Julio Zarate, the newest member of the St. Mary's College of Maryland Athletic Hall of Fame, will begin his ninth season as the assistant coach with the Seahawk men's and women's swimming programs in 2011-12.  Zarate runs the distance training group as well as coordinates the strength & conditioning programs.

He will be inducted into the St. Mary's Athletic Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2012 on Friday, December 5, 2013.

In 2008-09, Zarate earned a fellowship with the American Swim Coaches Association.  Only a select few around the country receive entrance into this program.  The fellowship program was a year-long mentorship program in coaching, aimed at developing the future coaching leaders of swimming.  Each fellow has a year to complete a project designed to advance the knowledge of the swimming body.  His project focused on NCAA swimming and what steps could be taken to protect and preserve college swim programs across the country.

Zarate returned to the Seahawk swimming program after finishing his career at St. Mary's as one of the school's most decorated male swimmers in school history.  The 2001 Capital Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year, he owned seven school records at one point during his career, including five that he still held at the time of his graduation in 2004 – 200 individual medley, 200 backstroke, 100 butterfly, 200 medley relay, and 400 medley relay.  Zarate earned eight All-CAC honors, including capturing the 100 and 200 backstroke events in 2001 and defending the 200 back title the following year.  Zarate garnered team MVP honors three times as well.

The Germantown, Md. native graduated from St. Mary's in 2004 with a bachelor's degree in art.  Zarate is currently in his fifth season as a head coach with the Chesapeake Bay Aquatics Club (CBAC).  Overall, he has been with CBAC for nine years. 

From the summer of 2006 to the summer of 2008, Zarate was a member of the Longhorns Swim Camp staff at the University of Texas at Austin.  The camp is considered by many to be one of the best swim camps in the world.  He had the privilege to work alongside eight-time NCAA Division I Coach of the Year and three-time United States Men's Olympic Team head coach, Eddie Reese.