Lydia Jacoby
Seward swimmer Lydia Jacoby admitted her life got a little dull after winning a gold medal in 2021 at the Tokyo Olympics the summer before her senior year of high school.
She graduated a semester early and sort of checked out of swimming, experiencing burnout and struggling to get in the water on a daily basis.
Then she arrived at the University of Texas in late summer and emersed herself in the program’s championship culture, which revived Jacoby’s killer instinct.
“Getting that momentum going since I’ve been at Texas, it’s been huge,” Jacoby told swimswam.com. “I had to kind of prove to myself that I didn’t peak in high school.”
Her stroke was locked in entering the NCAA Championships last week in Knoxville, Tennessee, where she returned to her rightful position atop the 100 breaststroke podium.
That’s her specialty event, the one she won at the Olympics. And now it’s the one that made her a national champion.
Lydia Jacoby: NATIONAL CHAMPION!!! 👸🏆🤘#HookEm pic.twitter.com/ayRvbtSQ5k
— Texas Women's Swimming & Diving (@TexasWSD) March 18, 2023
Jacoby, a 19-year-old freshman, claimed her first national crown in comeback fashion, bursting past teammate Anna Elendt and Tennessee’s Mona McSharry in the final five yards to win with a personal-best time of 57.03 seconds.
“I knew that I could win it,” Jacoby said. “I knew that everybody else in that heat could’ve won it, so it was great to come out with that victory.”
Sitting in third at the midway point and through the final turn, Jacoby swam 30.10 over the second half of the race to overtake McSharry (57.16) and Elendt (57.29).
“I think my first 50 was definitely a little bit crunchy. I was just trying to stay with everyone, stay in that mix,” she said. “I know that I can (come from behind) but I still have to be in there to do that, so I was just trying to stay with everyone and then kind of lock in on the way back.”
Jacoby’s time of 57.03 makes her the seventh-fastest performer in the event all time and ranks No. 2 in program history behind Elendt’s record of 56.88.
Lydia says ‘Hook ’em Horns’
In addition to earning All-American honors in the 100 breaststroke, Jacoby also earned national recognition in the 400 medley relay after helping Texas place third behind NC State and Virginia. The team was comprised of Olivia Bray, Jacoby, Emma Sticklen and Kelly Pash clocked a school-record time of 3:25.18.
Jacoby earned honorable mention All-American honors in the 200 breaststroke after placing third in the consolation final, 11th overall.
The Longhorns closed out the four-day meet with 414.5 points, the most for the program since 1994. Virginia scored 541.5 points to claim its third straight national title while Stanford finished third with 333 points.
Lydia Jacoby (right) holds up hardware she helped the Longhorns win. Photo by Texas Athletics
Her fabulous first season at Texas helped inject the love of swimming back into her veins. After the Olympics, she felt it leave her body.
“I had a pretty big burnout with swimming. It was a big struggle day in and day out to get to the pool,” Jacoby said. “I graduated (from Seward High School) a semester early. I didn’t have a lot going on outside of the pool, so it was kind of hard mentally to balance everything and I was struggling with not getting the performance I wanted in the water.
“I’m happy to be back.”