Reagan Smyth, Barton Swimming Head Coach

Bio

Reagan "Smyth" Ratliff enters her third season leading the Barton swimming program, replacing the vacancy of Matt Gilbert in 2023-24 becoming the third different head coach in the program's now eighth season of existence.

Ratliff’s second season delivered impressive postseason success, guiding the Lady Cougars to a third-place finish at the NJCAA National Championships. The Barton men’s squad earned a notable sixth-place finish after four days of competition.

Both programs showcased their strength in team events, recording five third-place finishes marking the highest event placements over the week long even for either squad. On the women’s side, freshman Marcela Contest Tribst led all scorers with 56 individual points, while sophomore Arnaldo Guimaraes paced the men’s team behind his 40 points.

Ratliff’s impact on the program’s long-term success was further underscored by a total of 26 new Top-10 all-time performances being added to the Barton record books. Highlighting the lone recording breaking event was Guimaraes’ new program best 2:01.20 in the 200-yard breaststroke.

In her inaugural year at the helm, Ratliff’s Cougars did not disappoint guiding the women’s program to a third-place trophy and a fourth-place finish on the men’s side at the 2024 NJCAA National Swimming & Diving Championships.

Ratliff’s other highlights throughout the 2024 season featured the national championship from the men’s 200-medley relay tandem of Javan Titus, Ethan Baylin, Dominik Strba, and Louis Ainley topping the seven-team field in 3:20.78 just 62-hundreths off the program record.

Throughout the 23-24 season, Ratliff’s teams shattered a combined 10 new program best times and total of 67 new program top-10 marks.

Originally from Scott City, Kansas, Ratliff was a member of the program's inaugural 2017-18 season led by Jonathan Reeder.  The Cougar men placed 7th in its first national meet as the women's program, despite having a number of open events, placed 11th overall in part to the accomplishments of Ratliff’s freshman debut.

As both squads put together strong performances on the final day, Ratliff was one of the highlighted achievements in becoming not just the first national medalist in program history, but later adding her second medal in etching her name in Cougar lore. She began her historic accomplishment on the final day of competition beginning in the 50 fly. Seeded 13th in the event, Ratliff clocked a 27.49 in the morning session for a fifth best prelim time before bettering her time in the finals by .02 seconds to become the first Lady Cougar national medalist. Two events later she etched her name in the record book again by placing 8th in the 100 free to conclude her two-time national medalist debut season.

Both men and women teams improved to a 5th placing in the program's second season with Ratliff also an integral part of the success.  Amongst four Lady Cougars in achieving a four-pack of individual national medalist placings, she also added four more in relays including a member of three national runner-up relay teams with the fourth earning a 6th place.

In individual events, Ratliff set personal bests in all four of her events to finish 4th in the 50 fly and 6th in each of the 100 fly, 50 free, and 100 free.

Squad bests were also set during Ratliff's relay teams with national runner-up placings coming in the 200 free, 800 free, and 200 medley as the 6th placing occurred in the 800 free.