BARRACUDAs COACHING STAFF
Gardner Howland
HEAD COACH
In four decades of coaching Gardner has been lucky to work with athletes of all ages, abilities, and aspirations. Coach Howland considers his time with masters athletes the most satisfying because of the simplicity and nobility of their goals – health, well-being, and friendships! In this setting, the travel and competitive meets that many Barracudas participate in become an extraordinarily fun MacGuffin. Gardner strives for a sensible and productive approach to training, with a holistic view of swimming and its role in our lives.
Gardner has led 2 USA Swimming Gold Medal clubs, served on multiple USA Swimming National Team staffs, and directly trained athletes to spots on most USA Swimming National Teams including the 2000 Olympic Team. He has also trained multiple swimmers and relays to #1 National rankings in both US Masters Swimming and USA Swimming. More relevantly, he has coached thousands of swimmers and appreciated the uniqueness of all of them!
Contact Gardner at gardner@barracudas.org
Aubrie LeGault
ASSISTANT COACH
Aubrie has been in love with the sport of swimming since the age of 6 when she joined her first club swim team in Indiana. She grew up swimming on club teams and her high school team before taking an 11-year hiatus from swimming. Around 2010 she realized how much she missed the sport and joined the Barracudas. Aubrie has been swimming with the Barracudas for 14 years.
Aubrie was the the assistant swim coach for Sunset High School for 14 years and has been coaching the Barracudas for two years.
Aubrie is a full-time professional food and beverage photographer. She is happily married to David and they have the world’s cutest black lab, Jasper. Aubrie enjoys playing volleyball (sand and indoor), camping, and going on adventures in her big blue Jeep.
Contact Aubrie at aubrielegault@gmail.com
Ben Karlin
ASSISTANT COACH
In 2012 Ben landed an assistant coaching position at Valley Catholic School, his alma mater, after moving back from Montana with his wife. Shortly after becoming a coach, Ben quickly realized that he missed being in the water and competing, so he joined the Barracudas!
Wanting to experience an open water race, Ben participated in the Portland Bridge Swim in 2016 with fellow Barracudas. Since then he has volunteered to assist the Bridge Swim organizers as the Race Officials Director, coordinating a safe race for all participants.
Wanting to continue down the coaching path, Ben became a certified Level 1 & 2 masters coach in 2017 in an effort to better understand USMS and assist all levels of swimmers.
Ben is a native Oregonian along with his wife, 2 boys, and their mini Australian Shepherd.
Contact Ben at karben9123@gmail.com
Leslie Kragt
Community Coach
A self-proclaimed “rec swimmer for life” Leslie grew up rec swimming & coaching in Walnut Creek, CA. At 16 she gave club swimming a try, joining the Walnut Creek Aquabears & then continued swimming at UC Santa Barbara.
She took a 20-year break from competitive swimming, occasionally doing laps with friends, sometimes looking over at the Barracudas, wondering about giving it a try . . . . and SOMETIMES looking over . . . & trying to race them :).
November 2022, Leslie decided it was time to dive back in & joined THB! She greatly enjoys having teammates and coaches again, and is so thankful for the opportunity to learn & coach again herself! She loves helping swimmers try new things, racing 25’s, and breaststroke days.
When Leslie is not at practice, she’s at her community pool coaching kids, chasing her 4 kids to various sporting events & finding time to hang out with her husband, Joey, and maybe even go for a swim together.
Contact Leslie at lesliekragt@barracudas.org