Zach Hawley is in his first season with the South Dakota State swimming and diving teams as diving coach.

A native of Omaha, Neb., Hawley competed at the University of North Dakota from 2004-2008 where he qualified for the NCAA National Championships in diving from 2005-2008. He then went on to become assistant diving coach at UND the past two seasons.

Prior to competing at North Dakota, he coached club teams and gave diving lessons in Omaha, Lincoln and Grand Forks for a combined nine years. During the summer of 2010, he was a guest coach at the University of Missouri and University of Texas diving camps, while also working as an observer at the Olympic Diving Training Center in Indianapolis.

Hawley was a high diver for Mirage Entertainment from 2005-2009, which entailed high diving from 70 feet into nine feet of water, lighting himself on fire and diving from 30 feet, clown diving, acting and teaching divers how to high dive as well as synchronize dives.

Hawley is working toward his master’s degree at South Dakota State.