Brad Smith is entering his seventh year as the Head Women's and Men's Swimming and Diving Coach.
In 2024-25, the men’s and women’s teams continued to raise the bar for the Penguins’ swimming and diving program. The women finished third with a new team record of 483 points scored. This marked the third consecutive season that the Penguins have outmatched the previous team point total mark at the HLCs. The team finished fourth overall.
The women’s team won three Horizon League titles, including the 800-free relay team of Hailey Clark, Oliwia Kaniak, Olivia Sweetman, and Miriam Frass winning the first relay conference title in YSU Swimming and Diving history, both male and female. They won the event with a time of 7:20.87, which was a new program record. The victory snapped a 10-year title run for Oakland in the event. The other titles won were individual, as Miriam Frass won the 1650 free title with a program-record time of 16:40.80, becoming the first YSU female swimmer to win that event at the Horizon League Championships, as well as capturing first place in the 400 IM for the second-straight year, winning with a program-record time of 4:18.91. The women’s team set nine new program records at the conference championship meet.
Frass was named the Horizon League Championships Women's Swimmer of the Meet, marking the first time in program history that a Penguin has received that award.
The men’s team placed fourth at the conference championships, accumulating a total of 410 points.
The team had four finishes inside the top three at the meet, highlighted by a runner-up finish by the 200-medley relay team of Elliot Elmore, James Slessor, Jacob Gramer, and Darren Laing, which marked the first time that a men's relay team has ever reached the podium at the Horizon League Championships.
Other notable moments included Gavin Webb’s third-place finish in the 1650 free, his fourth-consecutive finish on the podium, as well as freshman Jacob Gramer claiming two individual top-three finishes (second in the 100 fly, third in the 100 free), Dominic Bono’s runner-up finish in the 400 IM, and James Slessor’s third-place finish in the 100 breaststroke. The men set 12 new school records throughout the course of the season.
In 2022-23, the men’s and women’s teams delivered their best finishes in program history at the Horizon League Championships with each team placing fourth overall. Gavin Webb won back-to-back titles in the 1650 freestyle after becoming the first YSU men’s swimmer to win an individual Horizon League title during the 2021-22 season. Aleksa Radenovic also earned a Horizon League title in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:45.23.
At the Horizon League Championships, the men’s team earned 426 points, a program record, and set 11 school records at the meet. The team delivered five podium finishes including two champions.
The men’s team also delivered a successful outing at the 2023 CSCAA National inviational Championships, placing 21st out of 41 schools with 147 points. Gavin Webb and Aleksa Radenovic found the podium at the event, the first to do so in YSU history.
At the Horizon League Championships, the women’s team earned 421 points while delivering 10 top-eight finishes. Miriam Frass found the podium in three different events. Frass became the first YSU woman since 2018 to finish runner-up at the conference championships, accomplishing the feat in two events: 500 and 1650 freestyle. Frass broke the school record in the 1650 freestyle that had stood since 2014 with a time of 16:44.63 to finish second.
The men's program had four student-athletes named Academic All-Horizon League while the women's program had two student-athletes earn honors.
In 2021-22, the men's team had their first event winner as Gavin Webb placed first in the 1650 freestyle. Webb swam a time 15:20.40 in his victory which bettered his school record by almost two seconds. Also joining Webb with a podium finish was freshman Aleksa Radenovic who placed third in the 200 butterfly with a time of 1:46.19. Only seven hundredths of a second separated him from first place. In the relays, YSU set school marks in all five events during the championships.
The men scored a program record 362 points at the Horizon League Championships and had 11 top-eight performances and 29 top 16 finishes. The Penguins concluded the season with a strong showing at the CSCAA National Invitational Championships placing 14th out of 30 schools finishing ahead of Virginia Tech, UNLV, South Dakota, Evansville and South Dakota State among others. YSU tallied 166 points in its first appearance at the meet. Tennessee won the event while Ohio State was second and TCU finished third. YSU set school records in 11 different individual events in 2021-22.
The women added 23 top 16 finishes at the 2022 Horizon League Championships. The Guins had six individuals place in the top eight at the HL meet.
The men's program had four student-athletes named Academic All-Horizon League while the women's program had three student-athletes earn honors.
He did an amazing job guiding YSU through the 2020-21 COVID-challenged campaign. The Penguins were able to practice once school started in September and the season lasted until early April with the Horizon League Championships.
At the Horizon League meet, the men improved 221 points from their HL debut campaign and set school records in every relay and all individual swimming events but one. Ben Gingher set three school marks while Karan Raju and Gavin Webb set two each in April. YSU had two swimmers finish in the top five in two events. In the 1,650 free, Gavin Webb was fourth while Soma Albert was fourth in the 200 backstroke. Gingher added a pair of sixth-place finishes while Raju was sixth in the 200 fly for the Guins.
For the women, Ella Kerr broke both long-standing school marks in the breaststroke at the league meet. The Penguins had four top-five finishes, the best performance by the swimmers since 2016. Jael Dankle was third in the 1650 freestyle while Kerr placed third in the 200-yard breaststroke to lead the way.
In his first season as the head coach of the Penguins, the men's program set four individual school marks and four relay school records. The men's program was in its first year of Division I competition. YSU became the first program in the nation to add a men's Division I swimming and diving program and Smith relished the undertaking in his first season in Youngstown.
On the women's side, YSU had 12 top-10 finishes at the Horizon League Championships. Tiphaine Saint-Gilles, Casey Prentice, Aida Jurinovics and diver Tess Weiskopf led the way with a pair of top-10 placings. The Penguins earned dual meet wins against Valparaiso and Niagara.
Smith previously served as the Head Women's and Men's Swimming and Diving Coach at Binghamton for five years before coming to YSU in the summer of 2019. He also spent two campaigns as the Head Coach at Western Colorado, and he was an assistant coach at Maine from 2009-12.
At Binghamton, Smith coached six America East/ECAC Champions while his teams set 39 freshmen, pool, school and conference records in his tenure. Both programs were consistently honored by the CSCAA for their success in the classroom.
During his final two years, the Bearcats men's program finished runner-up at the America East Conference championship meet under Smith. Binghamton had 12 all-league selections - seven on the men's side and five on the women's side. Additionally, the program had four men's student-athletes named academic all-conference. The women's team posted a 7-1 dual record while the men's team finished 4-1 in dual contests in 2018-19.
In 2017-18, Smith guided the men's team to a runner-up finish at the America East Championships. The Bearcats recorded two first-place finishes and four second-place finishes at the championships. Ross Bernstein was named the America East Swimming & Diving Scholar-Athlete at the conclusion of the 2017-18 season. The men finished 3-3 in duals while the women recorded a 5-3 finish.
Binghamton's men's program was a member of the Eastern College Athletic Conference prior to joining the women in the America East. At its final appearance in the ECAC meet, the men placed fourth out of 23 schools. In 2015 and 2016, the Bearcats also finished in fourth place.
Smith was named the head women's coach at Western Colorado in 2012 and was given the responsibility of starting the program from scratch. The Mountaineers had not had a swimming and diving program since 1984. In his two years at the helm, Smith oversaw a squad that produced an NCAA qualifier, set 84 team and pool records and was named a Scholar All-American team in 2014. In addition, Western Colorado had an all-conference swimmer and three academic all-conference honorees during his tenure.
At Maine, Smith was the assistant coach when the Black Bear men's squad placed fourth at the 2011 America East Championships – their highest finish in a decade. During his final two years, Maine broke a total of 21 school records.
A 2007 graduate of Vermont, Smith was a four-year letterwinner for the Catamounts. Following his collegiate career, he spent two years as the Director of Women's Swimming Operations at Vermont and also was the men's club team coach.
