Courtesy: ECU Athletics
GREENVILLE, N.C. – A pair of home meets, including a return to Minges Natatorium on October 9, highlight the 2021-22 schedule for the East Carolina women’s swimming and diving schedule according to an announcement by fourth-year head coach Matthew Jabs Wednesday.
“I’m very excited to have swimming and diving back at ECU,” Jabs said. “Our sport has been one of the most successful programs on campus, and the staff and I are looking forward to returning our team to that level. It will no doubt take some time, but we are building a strong foundation and will grow from there.
“We are pleased with our schedule this year and are thankful to all the coaches who agreed to swim against us on such short notice. October 9th will be our only home meet this fall. We hope we can have as many fans in the stands to support our ladies as most of them will compete for the first time in Minges Natatorium.”
The Pirates open the season with a pair of road meets at UNC Asheville (Oct. 1) and Campbell (Oct. 8), before returning to Greenville to host Barton and Chowan in their lone home dual meet of the fall. ECU will close out the fall portion of its schedule by participating in the Richmond Duals (Oct. 22-23), a double dual meet against Liberty and Penn State (Oct. 29-30) and the Liberty Invitational (Nov. 19-21).
Following the holiday break, ECU will return to the pool for the William & Mary Tri-Meet with Old Dominion (Jan. 15) followed by the final home event against Georgia Southern (Jan. 22). The American Athletic Conference Championships (Feb. 16-19) will be hosted in Houston, while the NCAA Division I Swimming & Diving Championships are scheduled to be held in Atlanta, Ga. (Mar. 16-19).
This year’s roster consists of five returners in Meghan French, Chelsea Marstellar, Anna Otto, Randi Palandro and Kat White. Jabs and his staff, which includes Riley Hilbrandt (assistant coach) and Ryan McIntire (diving coach), also welcome in 10 student-athletes in graduate transfer Mia Cote, junior transfers Caitlin Reynera and Polina Rukosuev and sophomore transfer Flanary Patterson along with freshmen Meghan Armstrong, Alayna Carlson, Rachel Gibson, Ava Iannetta, Grace Weed and Reagan Youngblood.
Jabs served as the head men’s and women’s swimming and diving coach for three seasons (2017-20), following 17 years as an assistant coach to ECU Hall of Fame coach Rick Kobe.
Under his guidance, ECU’s dual meet record was a combined 35-18 (M 16-9, W 19-9). In that time, the Pirates set 66 school records, (38 varsity/28 freshman) won 26 American Athletic Conference championship events, with 50 all-conference athletes accumulating 77 all-conference performances. He led ECU to the 2020 American Athletic Conference Men’s Swimming & Diving championship and earned the league’s Coach-of-the-Year award.
