The East Carolina Pirates have picked up three verbal commitments that will have huge, immediate impacts upon the program.
Erin Polich (YMCA of Northwest North Carolina Riptyde), Julie Lajoie (Aquabears), and Eyan Eagle (East Carolina Aquatics) have all committed to Rick Kobe’s program.
Polich swims under Mike Brady at TYDE, and is a very good sprinter. Her flat-start bests are 23.4/51.3 in the 50 and 100 yard freestyles. The former of those times would have led the Pirates in the 2012-2013 season, and she’s still improving (she went from a 23.8 to a 23.4 as a junior in that 50).
She’s already approaching several of the school’s freshmen records, including a 23.31 done by Jenna Stewart in the 50 free and a 51.29 done by Anastasia Amorioglou in the 100 free.
Lajoie swims for the Aquabears in Connecticut is more of a middle-distance swimmer. She’s been 1:51.3 and 4:54.2 in the 200 and 500 yard races, plus a 2:01.4 in the 200 yard back, 2:00.03 in the 200 yard fly, 2:04.4 in the 200 yard IM, and 4:19.3 in the 400 yard IM.
That 400 IM time would be an East Carolina Record if she repeated it in college; and she’s well within reach of several other school records as well.
If these two continue to work hard, they could have at least a 50 point immediate impact on the ECU women’s team scoring at the Conference level (they will join the American Athletic Conference in 2014-2015, when Lajoie and Polich are freshmen).
The men’s team have also picked up a very good sprinter in Eagle. Eagle has flat-start bests of 20.85, 45.77, and 139.91 in the 50, 100, and 200 yard freestyles.
He has a chance to be on the 200 and 400 free relays as a freshman, and will almost certainly be on the 800 free relay. The Pirates have really been hitting their men’s freestyle recruiting in the last few falls: in each of the last two years, this team has relied heavily on freshmen for their conference scoring.
