Women Longhorn Olympians
Longhorn Women Swimming Olympians
Leigh Ann Fetter – Witt
1988 women swimming Olympians Susan Johnson, Annabelle Crippe, Andrea Hayes, Leigh Ann Fetter
A record-breaking swimmer at the University of Texas, Fetter-Witt was a fifteen-time NCAA Champion. Not only did she win the 50-yard freestyle all four years in college (1988-91), she also became the first woman ever to swim the 50-free in under 22 seconds. Simultaneously holding the American record in the 50-yard and 50-meter freestyle, she became only the third woman in NCAA history to win the same event four times. She represented the United States as a freshman at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. She finished fifth in the final of the women’s 50-meter freestyle. Returning to Texas, she won the 100 free her last three years and was a part of three national championship Teams. In 1989 she received the Female Athlete of the Year Award in Swimming, and 1990 she was the recipient of the Honda Award for Swimming, again recognizing her as the outstanding college female swimmer of the year. She became a member of the Longhorn Hall of Honor in 2003. Fetter later became head swim coach for the Greater Nebraska Swim Team and Lincoln Southwest High School men’s and women’s teams. Leigh Ann currently resides in San Antonio and is the Head Age Group Coach at Alamo Area Aquatics Association-Northside, working at one of the best facilities in the United States. She is married to Mike Witt and has two daughters, Ashley and Kaitlyn.
Slide show of Longhorn Olympians is below.
Whitney Hedgepeth competed in the 200-meter individual medley at the 1998 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, finishing eighth in the final.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, Hedgepeth won individual silver medals in the 100-meter backstroke and the 200-meter backstroke events and a gold medal as a member of the winning U.S. relay team in the 4 x 100-meter medley relay event. She was named All-American 27 times.
Whitney was inducted into the University of Texas Longhorns Hall of Honor in 2007.
Laura Wilkinson
2000 Summer
Laura Wilkinson earned the first gold medal for a female American platform diver since 1964.
2004 Summer Olympics
Wilkinson finished in fifth place.
2008 Summer Olympics
On June 26, 2008, Wilkinson qualified as a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic Diving Team in diving by taking first place in the trials.
Laura’s website is is
https://www.laurawilkinson.com
The 1980 Olympics were boycotted. Kim Linehan , Joan Pennington, and Jill Sterkel were scheduled to attend the 1980 olympics in russia. Jill responded in the Cactus about the Moscow boycott.
Susie Thayer, USA Women’s Swimming Moscow 1980 Boycott
Olympian Jill Sterkel the greatest
Jill Sterkel arrived in the Forty Acres from Hacienda Heights, Calif., in the fall of 1979 as a student-athlete on the women’s swimming and diving team. She has served as the Executive Director of the T-Association since 2006.
Before joining the T-Association staff, Sterkel was the head coach of the UT women’s swimming team from 1992-2006 and assistant coach of the UT women’s swimming team from 1986-91. As an athlete, she was a four-time Olympian, winning two gold medals and two bronze in freestyle and relays. She is a 16-time individual national champion and is a two-time winner of the Honda Award as National Female Swimmer of the Year.
Sterkel earned her undergraduate degree in education and a master’s in Kinesiology.
Jill Sterkel has received more honors than anyone in UT swimming history that includes 4 Olympic’s teams in 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988
Jill Sterkel wins the National Championship in
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the 50 free 1980-1983
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the 100 free 1980- 1983
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the 50 fly 1980-1983
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the 100 fly 1980-1983
Jill Sterkel’s honors include
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1981- Jill is the only Longhorn Swimmer who has received the Broderick Cup National Female Athlete of the year
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1979 and 1980 Broderick Award for National Swimmer of the Year.
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Holds the national record for points scored (100) in 1981 and 1982.
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Named to the All American team 27 times
Jill is a true Longhorn and American legend… and a fantastic person! I can’t say enough good things about her and I have seen her in action in various capacities. Since this is an athletic site, I’ll be brief. In the 1976 summer Olympics in Montreal, the US women were expected to dominate. But the East German “Ladies”, fueled by performance enhancing drugs, stole the show. No gold medals for the US women swimmers. On the last day, the last event, the 4X100 relay, the US swimmers were determined to win gold. After 2 legs, they were behind. Then a 15 year old girl hit the water for the US and took the lead…. Jill Sterkel! The ladies hung on to win Gold!!! Fast forward 4 years, and Jill was primed to win many gold medals in the 1980 Moscow Olympics…. she was going to be the talk of the swimming world…. but, yes, she never got the chance to dominated because Jimmy Carter decided the US would boycott the Olympics. Jill still swam in the 1984 and 1988 Olympics….the First American swimmer to quality for 4 consecutive Olympics!!!!! But as awesome as she was in the pool, Jill is a better mom and human being! Her greatness should never be overlooked. ????????????????????????????????????????♀️????♀️????♀️????♀️???????????? by Jim Deitrick
Vera Ilyina
