Zach Mabin has had multiple kinds of classrooms during the past eight years at Steinert High School and Rider University.
He’s not doing too shabby in the “official” classrooms of Rider, where he carries a 3.6 grade point average as an accounting major and hopes to become a CPA in a few years. But some of his greatest lessons have been learned while wearing a bathing suit and diving into a pool, something he has roughly three more months to do competitively.
“Swimming has pretty much been my whole life,” Mabin said. “Ever since I was 9, when I started competitively, that’s where all my friends came from. I live, eat and breathe swimming. When I was younger I would go to school and I would just wait ’til I could get out of school so I could go home and go see my friends at practices.
“I’ve grown so much from my swimming experiences. It’s taught me how to win, how to lose, how to properly dedicate and motivate myself to reach my goals. It’s something I feel like I could never learn if I did any other sport or any other activity.”
Much of that has to do with coach Steve Fletcher, who has a mandatory rule that each swimmer must be 15 minutes early for practice.
“That sort of helped me grow a lot as a person,” Mabin said. “It transferred over from not just showing up at practices, but I show up early for classes, I show up early for a lot of things. It’s a great mindset to teach your swimmers. That’s probably one of the most important things I’ve ever learned from anyone.”
Of course, what swimmer does not want to be ahead of the clock? Afterall, the ultimate goal is to get to reach the touch pad earlier anyone else.
Mabin made a habit of that at Steinert, where he was the Spartans’ MVP for three straight years and set school records in the 200 IM, 100 breast and 400 free. The breaststroke record had stood for 23 years. He also won MVP honors at the Mercer County Championship Meet as a senior after setting the meet record in the breast. And then there was the Hamilton Aquatics Club, where Mabin qualified numerous times for Nationals.
Fletcher casts a wide net to recruit for his successful program, which is gunning for its sixth straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship this winter. But he only had to drop a line into Mercer County waters to hook Mabin.
“Zach was highly recruited as a local standout, and we were fortunate that he saw the value in staying close to home and committing to Rider,” Fletcher said. “He came with a strong background as a distance freestyler and breaststroker after his career in high school and the Hamilton Aquatic Club. His coaches before Rider coached Zach to have great technique, and they instilled in him a constant desire to perfect his stroke mechanics and timing.”
Mabin arrived at Rider mainly as a breaststroker, and trained with a talented group of upperclassmen in that event. But he also showed promise in the distance races. As a freshman, he started the year swimming 4:45 in the 500 free and got his time down to 4:35 by the end of the season. He finished second in the 200 breast at the MAAC championships and swam a season-best 15:53.91 in the MAAC 1650 free.
As a sophomore, Mabin finished fourth in the 200 breast and fifth in the 1000 free at the conference meet. At last year’s MAAC Championships, Mabin took third in the 200 breast with a career best time of 2:03.22, and sixth in the 100 breast with a 58.50. His PR in the 100 is 58.05, which came at the Brown Invitational as a sophomore.
“The championships last year was my fastest overall meet,” he said. “I dropped over a second from my previous best in the 200 breast, so that was pretty exciting.”
This year, Mabin’s freestyle swims have been limited as he focuses mainly on the breaststroke.
“Over his career, we have started to use the distance training to support his speed in the 200 breaststroke,” Fletcher said. “As he has matured in the program, he’s been excited to focus more on the 100 and 200 breaststroke events. He’s now the leader of that training group as a senior.”
When he was a follower, Mabin loved every minute of it. After being the fastest kid in school at Steinert, he entered Rider as one of many quick swimmers. While that might frustrate some swimmers, Mabin thrived on it.
“I loved watching those guys race, all the top guys,” he said. “It encourages you to try to reach their level, it’s just so much better, I love having people on the team that are faster than me. I think that’s important for pushing you to reach new heights. The more you see it, the more you want to be able to do it and the more you think you can do it. It’s one of the best motivating factors that I had; to try to keep reaching the goals—to be where my teammates and other competitors were at.”
Mabin has gotten off to a strong start in his senior season, which is now on hold before resuming in January. In four dual meets, Mabin amassed four firsts, two seconds and a third in breaststroke events. He took seventh in the 200 breast and 12th in the 100 breast at the Brown Invitational.
“I think I’ve been gradually improving over the past three years,” Mabin said. “I hope this year to continue that trend. I would suspect I’m near what I can do, what my limits are, but I hope to still reach higher heights from what I’ve currently achieved.”
Mabin’s goals are to win an individual event at the MAAC and take part in another conference championship. He is also less than a second from breaking the school’s 200 breast record, and feels he has a shot at reaching the NCAA meet but said “that might be a little more difficult.”
Fletcher feels Mabin should have a standout senior year, thanks to the competition he faces in the conference. The coach feels he can set the 200 record and will again be an integral part of a MAAC crown.
“His senior year has been great so far,” Fletcher said. “We think he’s on track for his best year after watching him progress through fall training and competition. He is a very hard worker and has good racing confidence.
“One of Zach’s strengths is his attention to detail in stroke technique and timing; both critical elements in breaststroke. He’s very mindful of his feel for the water and focuses on perfecting his technique with every workout. He also trains with intensity. He commits to hard work and accepts a challenge when training for his event.”
He does the same out of the pool, having earned MAAC All-Academic honors twice. He is currently working in Rider’s Financial Aid department, and is looking to get the graduate assistant position in that office next year.
“I’ll take my fifth year here, get my master’s and then go for my CPA,” Mabin said. “From there, hopefully, I have a job.”
Mabin has also considered coaching in the future, but wants to get his professional life started at first. One thing is certain: college swimming has prepared him well for what lies ahead.
“You have to be willing to make sacrifices,” he said. “You have to be able to balance your work, balance your school work, still manage to get sleep, and also go to practice, and stay healthy. There’s a lot that goes into it.
“You have to be smart, you have plan everything out. Every week I make a to-do list. I try to keep track of everything that has to get done. I know I can’t put something off; I have to handle it by a certain time. You can’t forget anything; you’ve got to stay on track. But it’s all definitely worth it.”
Zach Mabin set plenty of records as a swimmer at Steinert High School, and now his eyes are set on Rider University’s 200 breaststroke mark.,
