Zach Wahl
Coach
Zack Wahl is the head swim coach and diving/aquatics director at SUNY Brockport.
Coach Wahl took the reigns for the 2021-22 season and saw success in his first year with the Golden Eagles. At the 2022 SUNYAC Championships, the women's team placed third to mark the program's best finish at SUNYACs in over 30 years. The women's team featured a double-event champion in Elizabeth Sagan (50 &100 Freestyle), who was named the SUNYAC Rookie of the Year. Both the men and women performed well at SUNYACs, as Wahl's team rewrote several records throughout the week.
In 2023, Wahl continued making program history, as the women's team scored the most points at the SUNYAC Championships in program history. Throughout the season the team broke seven records, won three individual conference titles and won his first relay title. He coached his first NCAA Nationals B cut with Elizabeth Sagan in the 50-yard freestyle.
Before Brockport, Wahl spent three seasons as the head coach at Clarkson University. During his first season at the helm of the Golden Knights, Clarkson set eight new school marks, including three individual swimming marks, one diving score, and four relays. In 2019-20, Clarkson continued to set new standards, and saw an individual victory at the Liberty League Championship for the first time since the 2013-14 season.
A 2014 graduate of Union College with degrees in both geology and biology, Wahl has spent time at three different institutions as an assistant coach, including Middlebury College (2014-15), Springfield College (2015-17), where he earned an MBA in May 2017, and at conference rival SUNY Geneseo (2017-18). Over the course of that short period of time, Wahl helped coach 22 student-athletes who qualified for the NCAA Championships, including 10 All-Americans. At Geneseo alone, 22 swimmers were SUNYAC Champions and 12 qualified for the NCAA Championships during his tenure.
Swimming Career
A three-time All-American himself, Wahl was chosen as the Liberty League Swimmer of the Year in 2013-14 and earned CSCAA Scholar All-American honors that same year. At the Liberty League meet in December 2013, he won both the 100 butterfly (51.73) and 200 butterfly (1:57.09) while taking second in the 200 individual medley (1:59.13) and 100 freestyle (48.61). He holds Union College records for the 100 butterfly (49.44), 200 butterfly (1:50.13) and also swam on the fastest 400 medley relay (3:21.93) and 200 freestyle relay (1:23.05) teams for the Dutchmen. Wahl competed at the 2014 NCAA Championships, placing 13th in the 200 butterfly (1:50.35), while also swimming the 200 and 400 medley relays for Union. Additionally, Zack was a two-time United States Master's Swimming National Champion, and a silver medalist in the 100m butterfly at the 2018 UANA Master's Pan-American Championships.