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COLUMBIA, Mo. – Bex Freebairn has joined the University of Missouri swimming and diving program as an assistant coach, Head Coach Andrew Grevers announced on Wednesday.
Freebairn joins the Tigers program after helping lead the University of Akron to back-to-back Mid-American Conference Championships in 2022 and 2023.
“Bex is a true innovator in the pool, who excels at relationships and brings fresh ideas to the table!” Greavers said.
Prior to joining the Zips, Freebairn spent a year as the head coach of Swim Waipa in Cambridge, New Zealand. During that time she was selected as coach of the National Regional Development Squad for Swim Waikato.
From 2018-20, Freebain served as an assistant coach at Washington State. During her tenure, she helped guide four Couguars to Olympic qualifying times, three athletes to school records and 21 to top-10 program times. In her first season, she was instrumental in the development of NCAA National Championship participant Mackenzie Duarte.
While with the Cougars, the team earned CSCAA Scholar All-America Team honors in three consecutive semesters. Individually, three swimmers earned CSCCA Scholar All-American honorable mention accolades.
“I am very grateful to the coaches and athletes that I have worked with over the last few years, Freebairn said. “You have all had a huge influence on me personally and played a huge role in this new opportunity. I am very honored and excited to be joining the Mizzou swim and dive family in this role. Coach Grevers has been extremely welcoming! Alec Hayden, Andrew Sansoucie and Maddy Banic have also made this process smooth so I am thrilled to be joining an exciting staff. I see a huge opportunity in Columbia with great student-athletes, phenomenal academics and a beautiful campus, I can’t wait to get started.”
Before her time in Pullman, Wash., Freebairn worked two seasons at Indiana State from 2016-18. In her second year, the Sycamores posted a 13-win campaign and displayed record-setting team performance at the Missouri Valley Conference Championships. She helped ISU set school records in every event at the conference championships, highlighted by the program’s first individual conference champion. Nine Sycamores earned All-MVC honors including a trio of first-team selections. Out of the pool, Leach saw the Sycamores earn CSCAA Scholar All-American honors for the third straight semester, including the highest team GPA in the Missouri Valley Conference.
Freebairn holds past coaching and swimming experience in New Zealand where she competed nationally until her sophomore year of college when injuries forced her to medically retire.
Freebairn earned her Bachelor’s of Sport Coaching degree from the University of Canterbury (N.Z.) in 2015. She also obtained a Masters of coaching at Indiana State in 2018.
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