The East Carolina University Men’s Swimming and Diving team announced its 11-member incoming class on Monday, including three divers and eight swimmers.
"This class is a great mix of talent in all areas of our roster," Head coach Matthew Jabs said according to ecupirates.com. "Signing talented recruits is nothing new for us; the challenge we faced this season was bringing in the volume of athletes between both the women's and men's class at a level that fit our program and met our goals and expectations.”
This class is not only a mixture of talent, but also a mixture of backgrounds, with four coming from the state of North Carolina, four more from New Jersey, Florida, Missouri and Pennsylvania, as well as an international trio from Curacao, Sweden and the Czech Republic.
The divers in the class include Gavrilo Blijden from Curacao, Luke Stivers from Boynton Beach, Florida and Jake Venegoni from Ballwin, Missouri.
The swimmers in the class include a wide range of different skill sets– backstroke swimmer Ryan Brennan from Haddon Township, New Jersey, breaststroke swimmer Ben Gingher from Boalsburg, Pennsylvania and sprint freestyle swimmer Pietro Nannuccci from Greensboro, North Carolina. Others swimmers include Eric Hinderup from Sweden, Johnny Darguzas from Maggie Valley, North Carolina, Ethan Knorr from West Salisbury, North Carolina, Marek Osina from the Czech Republic and Hunter Pigg from Raleigh, North Carolina, who each swim in multiple events.
The ECU Men’s Swimming and Diving team finished second in the American Athletic Conference Championships in 2017-18, ending the team’s three year reign as AAC champions. Jabs will enter his second year at the helm of the program after taking over for former ECU head coach Rick Kobe, who spent 35 years as the head coach of the Pirates’ Swimming and Diving program and retired as the fourth winningest coach in NCAA history with 539 victories.
Overall, the Pirates will be hopeful this class will be as productive as those of years’ past, and can help lead them back to being AAC champions.
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