Drury University Athletics

Zach Mertens will enter his seventh year on the Drury swimming & diving coaching staff and his fifth season as a full-time assistant in 2023-24. 

In 2022-23, the Panthers men's team won the GLVC Championship and were the NCAA-II Runner-Up for the third straight year. The women's squad finished third nationally and featured the women's GLVC Swimmer of the Year Claire Conover. The Drury men's 200 Medley Relay team won a national title, as did Davi Mourao in the 100 Breast and Allie Waller won the national championship in the 200 Back. 

In 2022, he helped guide the men’s team to an NCAA-II Runner-Up finish and national championships in five events. The Drury women’s team finished fourth in the nation, won the GLVC Championship and produced the GLVC Swimmer of the Year, Allison Weber, and the league’s Freshman of the Year, Rafaela Raurich.

Mertens also helped the 2021 Drury men’s team to the GLVC championship and the Panthers to NCAA-II Runner-Up finishes with both the men's and women's squads. The men's team featured Karol Ostrowski, who was named the GLVC Freshman of the Year, and competed for Poland in the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in 2021. The women's team produced the GLVC Women's Swimmer of the Year for the fifth season in a row as Bec Cross. 

Mertens graduated from Ouachita Baptist University in 2014 with a degree in History and Political Science and was an Academic All-NSISC Team 2013 and 2014.

He previously served as head coach for the Columbia Public Schools swimming & diving programs, serving Hickman, Rock Bridge, and Battle High Schools. Under his leadership, Columbia teams produced three state champions and eight that finished in the top four at the state championships. 
 
Mertens was also on the Columbia Swim Club coaching staff in 2014 working with all age groups. His teams on multiple sectional championships and were consistently a top-three finisher in the Missouri Valley championships.