Q&A: Checking In With Rachel Stratton-Mills, Arizona State Associate Head Coach (Michael Stott, Swimming World Magazine/April 10, 2023)
'These athletes are giving us their all, so they deserve a coach who does, as well': Passion Is What Continues to Drive Stratton-Mills at ASU
Since arriving in Tempe, Stratton-Mills has been a key part of one of the most successful eras of the Swimming & Diving program. Ten Sun Devil Women have earned All-American status at the NCAA Championships in Stratton-Mills' Sun Devil tenure, highlighted by First Team All-American Cierra Runge, who won a Gold Medal at the 2016 Olympics. Three Sun Devils have won Pac-12 Conference Titles under the direction of Stratton-Mills, the most recent of which came when Erica Laning won the 500 free in February 2022. Laning joined Emma Nordin (500 free/2020) and Silja Kansakoski (2019/100 breast) as the trio of Pac-12 Champions. Nordin (2022) and Kansakoski (2020) were also recipients of the Kajikawa Award by Sun Devil Athletics, handed out annually to a graduating Sun Devil student-athlete who best demonstrates academic excellence, athletic accomplishment, leadership and service in the community. Other notable swimmers that have thrived thanks to the tutelage of Stratton-Mills include Camryn Curry, Erica Laning, Kendall Dawson, Lindsay Looney and Jade Foelske.
Stratton-Mills has helped Arizona State capture a Territorial Cup point, by virtue of finishing ahead of rival Arizona at the Pac-12 Swim & Dive Championships, in each of her first four trips to the conference championships thus far (no competition in 2020-21 season). The Sun Devils have steadily improved their position at the NCAA Championship since the arrival of Stratton-Mills, earning 61 points to finish in 20th at the 2019 NCAA Championship. It marked the first time the Sun Devil Women have cracked top-20 at NCAAs since 2012 (12th). The 61 points were nearly double the 34 points compiled by the Sun Devil Women's team in 2018, when they finished 23rd. Arizona State was on track to continue the improvement before the 2020 season was cut short.
Stratton-Mills has extensive experience coaching swimming at both the collegiate and club levels. She served as head coach of Asphalt Green Unified Aquatics (2010-15), placing an athlete on the 2012 US Olympic Team, with two other athletes named to the National Junior Team during her tenure. She served on staff for Team USA at both Short Course World Championships and Junior World championship. Prior to Asphalt Green, she coached at both University of Maryland and Dartmouth College.
In 2019, Coach Stratton-Mills was part of the inaugural season of the International Swim League; the first professional swim league. She coached for the DC Trident; serving on one of the first all-female professional sport staffs in history.
In 2015 Coach Stratton-Mills embarked on a 15-month journey across the country observing and interviewing swim programs of all levels. Over these 15 month she visited over 60 different competitive swim programs, documenting and speaking on her findings. This educational experience gave her new insights into the many ways a coach can find success in the sport of swimming.
Outside of coaching, she also is currently serving as a member of the USA Swimming Rules/Regulations Committee and served on a USA Swimming Safe Sport Task Force, which reviewed Safe Sport Regulations. Stratton-Mills earned her Bachelor’s of Art in Sociology as a swimming student-athlete at UCLA.
A native of Los Gatos, California Stratton-Mills has one daughter, Madison (6) with her husband Glenn Mills.