East Carolina Head Coach Rick Kobe Claims 500th Career Win

GREENVILLE, North Carolina, February 2. EAST Carolina head coach Rick Kobe became the sixth coach in NCAA history to register 500 career victories as the Pirates swept a dual meet from William & Mary at Minges Natatorium on Saturday afternoon.

The ECU ladies improved to 10-0 with a 184-108 win, while the men recorded a 158-130 victory against the Tribe, to run their record to 6-2 overall.

In 32 years as the Pirates’ head coach, Kobe has compiled a career record of 500-180-1, winning eight conference championships and earning coach of the year honors seven times. He joins Boston College’s Tom Groden (698), North Carolina’s Frank Comfort (578), Yales’ Bob Kiputh (528), Virginia’s Mark Bernardino (510) and current Georgia coach Jack Bauerle (505) as members of this exclusive club. Kobe is second only to Baule in wins among active coaches.

“You can’t do any of this stuff without good swimmers and good coaches,” Kobe said. “I’ve had great assistants, swimmers and divers come in here and we’re not stopping. We’re getting better and better every year. You can’t get any of this done without a ton of support.”

On the day, the women’s team posted a total of eight wins, while the men picked up victories in seven events.

The women’s 200 medley relay ‘A’ team comprised of Anna Gibas, Megan Sellers, Anastasia Amiroglou and Tori Angermeier took first place with a time of 1:45.35, as Amoiroglou and Angermeier ran the final two legs in 25.25 and 23.63 seconds, respectively, to give the Pirates 11 points in the event.

ECU opened the individual portion of the meet with a trio of 1-2 finishes, as Megan Rossi (10:16.19) and Lauren Chew (10:21.57) claimed the top two spots in the 1000 freestyle. Lauren Baker (1:52.47) and Anna Maria Svansbergsson (1:52.75) accomplished the same feat in the 200 freestyle, before Danielle Morrin (2:03.76) and Lauren Gray (2:04.07) raced one another to the finish in the 200 butterfly.

Anna Gibas was first to stop the clock in the 100 backstroke after clocking a 56.94, before Charlsie Lincoln (1:04.67), Sellers (1:05.89) and Isabelle Little (1:06.78) earned 16 points for the Pirates in the 100 breaststroke by taking home the top three spots, respectively.

Lincoln (2:20.79) completed her sweep of the breaststroke in the 200-yard event and Sellers (2:23.60) was next to finish.

Megan Rossi (5:04.08) and Baker (5:05.20) were the first two swimmers to touch the wall in the 500 freestyle, as Baker was nearly 3 full seconds ahead of the third-place finisher.

For the men, Julien Dodu (9:38.36), David Craig (9:44.10) and Jake Pierce (9:50) were the first three to touch the wall in the 1000 freestyle to give East Carolina its first 16 points of the afternoon.

Adam Dear (1:53.21) and Daniel Woods (1:53.89) swam to a 1-2 finish in the men’s 200 butterfly, before Nikola Simic sprinted to a 20.97 time and win in the 50 freestyle. Dear also grabbed the top spot in the men’s 100 butterfly with a 51.12 clocking, edging out a William & Mary swimmer who finished just .35 seconds behind.

Rokas Cepulis was victorious in the 200 breaststroke with a time of 2:02.68, more than two-and-a-half seconds faster than the first of a trio of Tribe swimmers who followed. Cepulis went on to win the men’s 200 IM after posting a 1:52.61.

The above article is a press release submitted to Swimming World. To reach our audience, contact us at newsmaster@swimmingworldmagazine.com.

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