The East Carolina men and women’s swimming and diving programs inked seven high school student-athletes to National Letters of Intent during the early signing period. Bridie Burke (Washington, D.C.), Julie Lajoie (East Longmeadow, Mass.), Vendela Norman (Tyreso, Sweden) and Erin Polich (High Point, N.C.) will join the women’s squad next season, while Eyan Eagle (Grenville, N.C.), Scott Kent (Knightdale, N.C.) and Matt Mullen (Harrisburg, Pa.) will be added to the men’s team.
“This fall we focused on signing kids who could help us right away in our championship efforts,” Pirate head coach Rick Kobe said. “We feel each of these athletes will have an immediate impact on our scoring roster as we head into the American Athletic Conference next season.”
400IM 4:19.31 200 Fly 2:00.03 500 Free 4:54.26 200 Back 2:01.40
Lajoie swims for the Aquabears Swim Club, under coach Jon Levine. Ranked as top-5 recruit from Massachusetts, her current times would place her among the top-5 all-time in four events at ECU.
50 Free 23.42 100 Free 51.35 100 Back 57.75
Polich is a sprinter for coach Mike Brady at TYDE in High Point. Tabbed as a top-10 prospect from North Carolina. Her top time in each event would rank among the Pirates’ all-time top-10 times.
100 Breaststroke 1:10.28scm 200 Breaststroke 2:31.22scm
Norman is the lone international signee in the class. A breaststroke swimmer, Norman is a member of the Swedish Junior National team coached by Mattias Janvald. Her top times would rank among the school’s all-time 10-best.
100 Free 51.36 200 Free 1:51.69 100 Fly 56.92 200 IM 2:06.20
Burke is a member of the Nation’s Capital Swim Club in Washington, D.C. She was listed as the top recruit in D.C. by collegeswimming.com with times in four events that would rank among ECU’s all-time top 10 times.
200 Free 1:39.91 100 Free 45.77 50 Free 20.85
Eagle (left) is a second generation Pirate. His father, Scott, was a diver at ECU and his mother, Lisa, was a swimmer. A member of the East Carolina Aquatics Club, Eagle is a freestyle sprinter whose times would be fast enough to rank him among the school’s career top-10 in two events.
Kent is a multi-event AAU National Qualifier & USA Zone Qualifier for Duke Aquatics under coaches Nunzio Esposito & Katherine Hazelton.
Mullen is also a multi-National Qualifier as well as a multiple Pennsylvania High School Championship medalist, currently dives for Soaring Eagles Dive Club under coach Brad Butcher.
This release was provided to SwimSwam courtesy of ECU Swimming and Diving.