Ben Zajic - Swimming & Diving Coach - Florida Atlantic University Athletics

Photo by: ©JC Ridley/Owlpix.com

Ben Zajic

Title:
Assistant Coach
Email:
bzajic@fau.edu
Phone:
561-334-6817

Assistant coach Ben Zajic joined the swimming and diving staff in October of 2020. He will begin his third season coaching at FAU in the fall of 2022.

In his second year coaching at FAU, Zajic helped lead the men's squad to a second-place finish in the CCSA Swimming & Diving Championships. The Owls took won two major awards, with Rateb Hussein being named Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet, and Timo Paisley being named Most Outstanding Freshman of the Meet. The men's side also won the George Mason Patriot Invitational for the first time in program history. As a team, FAU broke nine total program records and 12 freshman records throughout the season.

Zajic onboarded at FAU amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, but the swim & dive team still excelled in the shortened 2020-21 season. At the 2021 Coastal Collegiate Sports Association Swimming & Diving Championships, the men’s team finished as the runner-up with 22 medals, the most the program has received at a conference championship. Alec Peckmann broke the 200 IM school record and Josh Fountain was tabbed the CCSA Most Outstanding Swimmer of the Meet after winning three individual gold medals.

The women’s team finished fourth at the Conference USA Swimming & Diving Championships. Zajic’s swimmer Nika Culina earned two bronze medals in the 100 and 200 breast, while breaking FAU freshman records in each event.

Prior to FAU, Zajic spent the 2019-20 season as an assistant coach at the University of Nevada – Reno. The Wolfpack earned a second-place finish at the Mountain West Conference Championships, while tallying two new school records and eight NCAA B-cuts.

Before getting back to the collegiate swimming & diving scene, Zajic was the lead national and administrative coach for the Kansas City Blazers. During his time with the Blazers from 2018-19, Zajic created and executed workout plans for the National Group, created season plans and schedules, as well as handled finances and travel.

Zajic was previously a coach for the National’s Capital Swim Club from May 2017 to June 2018. He worked under Pete Morgan, an American Swim Coach Association Hall of Fame member and six-time USA National Team Coach, to instruct high school-aged swimmers, including National Junior Team members and Summer National Qualifiers. With NCAP, the team earned Gold Medal status, ranking first in the USA Swimming Club Excellence program.

While coaching with the NCAP, Zajic was also a volunteer coach at George Mason University. He worked primarily with the middle distance group, while carrying out the creation and implementation of a new strength and conditioning program used for the middle distance and distance groups. The Patriots were the runner-up at the 2018 Atlantic-10 Championships on the men’s side, moving up from a sixth place finish from the year before. They also boasted three A-10 champions and seven NCAA B-cut times, while setting five new team records.

Zajic is a former four-year member of the Lafayette College swimming & diving team, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in biology and psychology. He obtained a Master of Science in kinesiology from East Carolina University in 2017, while serving as a senior coach for ECU Aquatics during his time in Greenville, North Carolina.

Zajic is certified by the American College of Sports Medicine as a Certified Clinical Exercise Physiologist, is CPR certified and is a National Swimming Pool Foundation Certified Pool Operator.