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 Licon at the 2017 NCAA Championships | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | William Andrew Licon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National team |  United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | August 25, 1994 El Paso, Texas, U.S. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 4 in (193 cm) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Sport | Swimming | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Strokes | Breaststroke, individual medley | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | LA Current Longhorn Aquatics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | University of Texas at Austin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coach | Eddie Reese, Kris Kubik | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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William Andrew Licon (/liːˈkoʊn/ lee-COHN; born August 25, 1994) is an American competitive swimmer who specializes in breaststroke and medley events.[1] He previously competed for the professional team LA Current in the International Swimming League.[2] Licon is a three-time World Championship medalist, a two-time Pan American Games gold medalist and has been a member of the United States national team since 2015.[1] He is the current American record-holder and former NCAA & US Open record-holder in the 200-yard breaststroke.
Licon competed for the Texas Longhorns from 2013 to 2017 under head coach Eddie Reese and Associate Coach Kris Kubik where he was an 11-time NCAA champion, a 15-time All-American, and a 12-time Big 12 Conference champion.[3] Additionally, Licon helped lead the Longhorns to three consecutive national championships in 2015, 2016, and 2017. He is only the fourth swimmer in collegiate history to win four individual NCAA titles in four different events.[4] Concluding his collegiate career, Licon was voted the 2017 Big 12 Male Athlete of the Year.[4]
Early life
Will Licon was born in El Paso, Texas on August 25, 1994. There, he lived with his parents Robert and Nancy, as well as his younger siblings Michael and Elizabeth; all three of them were raised together as competitive swimmers. In the summer of 2001, Licon began his competitive swimming career by joining the El Paso Tennis Club "Fighting Frogs" summer league swim team at the age of six. After one season of summer league swimming and winning multiple City Championship events, Will's father advanced his now seven-year-old son to year-round club swimming. In the Fall of 2001, Robert created the USA Swimming club team West Texas Typhoons (WETT), where Licon swam for the next seven years of his career, breaking 50 individual Border Local Swim Committee (LSC) records during his tenure.[5]
In 2009, Licon left El Paso and moved with his family to Plano, Texas. There, he joined the club team City of Plano Swimmers (COPS), where he swam for 2 years (2009–2011). While living in Plano, Licon attended Jasper High School (2009–2011) and swam for Plano Senior High School during his freshman year (2009–2010). At the 2010 5A Texas State Championships as a freshman, Licon placed third in the 200-yard medley relay, third in the 200-yard IM, and third in the 100-yard breaststroke.[6] This would be the only time Licon would participate in high school swimming as he elected to forgo his remaining three years of eligibility. He still currently holds the Plano Senior High School record in the 200-yard medley relay.[7]
In 2011, Licon moved to Austin, Texas at the age of 16 to swim for Nitro swim club, while the rest of his family moved back to El Paso. For his final two years of high school, Licon boarded with multiple host families in the surrounding Austin area to maintain an elite level of training that would best set him up for future athletic and academic success. "It was very hard the first couple of months. I was scared. I was on my own," Licon said. "It forced me to grow up on a whole new level."[8]
Only months after moving cities, Licon won the 200-meter breaststroke at the 2011 Jr. National Championships, posting a 2:16.09.[9] With this time, he finished ahead of his rival and future Olympic gold medalist Gunnar Bentz.[10] In Austin, Licon attended Westlake High School for one semester before briefly moving back to El Paso. For two months in El Paso, he attended El Paso High School before moving back to Austin for the final time in 2012. Back in Austin, he enrolled into, and eventually graduated from Vista Ridge High School.
That summer, Licon competed in the 2012 United States Olympic Trials, finishing 19th in the 200-meter breaststroke[11] which qualified him for the 2012 Jr. Pan Pacific Swimming Championships in Honolulu, Hawaii. In Hawaii, Licon posted a 2:14.53[12] in the 200-meter breaststroke to take fourth place. Individually, Licon also placed sixth in the 100-meter breaststroke (1:03.85) and competed in the preliminary swims of the 100-meter butterfly and the 200-meter individual medley. He concluded the meet with a silver medal performance in the 4×100-meter medley relay alongside future Longhorn teammates Jack Conger and Matt Ellis with a 1:02.86 breaststroke split.[13] This silver medal became Licon's first international medal of his swimming career.
On October 19, 2012, Licon gave his verbal commitment to swim at the University of Texas at Austin[14] and signed his letter of intent on November 14, 2012.
College career
2014 NCAA Championships
In his debut season as a freshman at the 2014 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, Licon placed fifth in the 400-yard individual medley, setting a school record for the Longhorns with a time of 3:40.84. He also finished 12th in the 200-yard breaststroke and 14th in the 200-yard individual medley.[1][15]
The Longhorns finished second to the California Golden Bears for the men's NCAA team title, scoring 417.5 points to Cal's 468.5.[16]
2015 NCAA Championships
| 2015 NCAA Championships | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
200 y breaststroke | 1:49.48 |
|
400 y medley | 3:36.37 |
|
4×100 y medley | 3:01.23 (US) |
 |
200 y medley | 1:40.09 |
At the 2015 NCAA Championships during his breakout sophomore year, Licon won two individual titles, one relay title, and earned a second place finish. In his first event, Licon was runner-up to Stanford’s David Nolan in the 200-yard IM while producing a lifetime-best by over a second and a half, going 1:40.09. This made Licon the third-fastest performer of all time in the event. Nolan’s time of 1:39.38 was a new American record.[1][17]
Licon then joined Kip Darmody, Joseph Schooling, and Jack Conger to win the 4×100-yard medley relay in a new NCAA and U.S. Open record time of 3:01.23, just out-touching the California Golden Bears (3:01.60) for gold.[17][18] The Longhorns were ineligible for the American record because Schooling represented Singapore internationally. Licon also won the 400-yard individual medley in a time of 3:36.37, defeating the American record-holder and 2-time defending champion Chase Kalisz by 3.14 seconds.[17] Licon became the fourth fastest performer of all time in this event, and it was the first time in history that a Texas Longhorns swimming and diving male athlete had won the 400 IM at the NCAA Championships.[1]
In his last race of the meet, Licon went head-to-head against American record-holder and reigning NCAA champion Kevin Cordes in the 200-yard breaststroke. Licon edged out Cordes by 5-hundredths of a second (1:49.48 to 1:49.53).[19] With this swim, Licon became just the second swimmer in history to break 1:50 in the 200-yard breaststroke.[1][20]
Licon’s breakout performance at the 2015 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships helped the Longhorns win their first team title since 2010.[1] It was the Longhorns' 11th NCAA men's team title overall.[21]
