Tanner Barton - Men's Swimming and Diving Coach - Ball State University Athletics

Tanner Barton

Title:
Graduate Assistant Coach
Email:
tfbarton@bsu.edu

Tanner Barton enters his first season as the Graduate Assistant Swim Coach. A native of Dublin, Ohio, Barton swam for Ball State from 2013-2017. He was a two-time team captain in 2015-2016 and 2016-2017. In the pool, Barton was a fierce butterfly and freestyle contributor. He was a four-year 200 Butterfly and 800 Freestyle Relay finalist at the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship. Barton’s personal best in the 200 Butterfly (1:50.09) ranks second in the program’s 72 year history. Throughout his swimming career at Ball State, Barton was also a MAC Championship finalist in the 100 Butterfly, 200 Medley Relay, 400 Medley Relay and 400 Freestyle Relay.

Barton strongly believes in encouraging student-athletes to become successful scholar-athletes. Barton graduated Summa Cum Laude from BSU in 2017 with a 4.0 cumulative GPA. He was an Honors College graduate who double-majored in Health Science and Spanish. Following graduation, Barton was awarded one of the prestigious NCAA Postgraduate Scholarships and the 2017 Bob James Memorial Scholarship Award; this MAC award honors one male student-athlete from the conference who best displays scholarship, leadership and citizenship.

When competing, Barton was involved in bettering the experiences for Ball State Cardinals and fellow MAC student-athletes. Barton sat on the Executive Board for the Ball State Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) in 2016-2017. He also represented Ball State on the MAC Council of Student Athletes (COSA). As a MAC COSA representative, Barton worked closely with conference officials to draft NCAA legislation and plan conference wide community service initiatives. At the national level, Barton was selected to as the sole MAC representative to attend the NCAA Leadership Symposium in April 2015 and the NCAA Career in Sports Forum in June 2017.

In addition to his passion for coaching and swimming, Barton is well known for his work within the field of diabetes. Barton is an international spokesperson for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. His keynote presentations highlight how student-athletes can achieve athletic success while managing type 1 diabetes. He has prior coaching experience with the Dublin Community Swim Team and Dublin Dolphins. Barton is currently pursuing a Master’s of Arts in Kinesiology with a concentration in Sport Performance.