Chris Fantz

Chris Fantz, the Head Swim Coach at Lewis and Clark College, is in his tenth season for the Pioneers. He was voted the 2011 "Co-Coach of the Year" in the Northwest Conference and the Women’s Swimming “Coach of the Year” for the 2010 season.

Since Chris’ arrival, Pios swimmers have raced to 57 new school records and numerous NCAA provisional qualifying times. The team has grown in numbers and depth as they build on their foundation of academic and athletic success.

Before joining the Pioneers, Chris served as an assistant coach at the University of Puget Sound where the women capped a run of eleven Northwest Conference titles and the men placed consistently in the top two. In his time coaching the Loggers, they sent multiple swimmers to the NCAA Division III National Championships.

While in Tacoma, Chris also coached with Tacoma Swim Club before becoming Head Age Group coach with Metro Aquatics where he oversaw all levels of development within the age group program.

During his swimming career, Chris was an All-American several times and school record holder in butterfly and freestyle races while competing at UPS from 1995-99. He finished as high as second at nationals in the 100 Butterfly and helped his team to two NAIA National Championships and two runner-up team finishes. He also anchored the conference record-setting 200 Freestyle Relay that stood for ten years.

Chris holds a B.A. in English Writing and his M.A. in Psychological and Cultural Studies. He still pursues his writing interests, including recent work published in American Swimming magazine and on SwimSwam.

In addition to leading the swimming programs at Lewis & Clark, Chris serves as Director of Aquatics and an instructor in Physical Education. He lives in Portland with his wife, Heather and their young son and daughter.