The perfect match.

That is what the women's swimming and diving team has with its coach, Bob Krimmel. The Lewistown native has taken the Lady Lions to new heights and is just five wins behind former coach Ellen Perry, the winningest coach in the team's history.

Tomorrow the Eastern Women's Swimming League Championships begin, and Krimmel will be looking to lead the team to its fourth title and its second in as many years. The three previous championships have all come under Krimmel.

Krimmel is a true Penn Stater in every sense of the word. He competed for the men's swimming team as an undergraduate, in 1973 he earned a B.S. in education, in 1974 he received a master's degree in counseling and continues to teach in the College of Health and Human Development. To top it off, while he attended school he was a cheerleader, something that he still does at the swim meets.

"I don't know how that ever started," Krimmel said. "They gave me grief because I was a cheerleader, so at one point in the meet I have to do a cheer. They like to cheer during the meet, and it brings them closer."

Before becoming coach in 1981, Krimmel was an assistant for both the men and women's teams for eight years, this included coaching under Perry. He was not expecting to become the coach of one of the nation's most succesful programs.

"It's just something that evolved," he said. "I was expecting to coach in some high school, but I expressed interest in coaching whichever program (men's and women's) was available."

"He has the potential to be a head coach anywhere," Perry added. "When the position became available, he was interested in promotion to it."

His first season at the head position was a rough one. The team went 7-4 and finished third at Easterns. So far, that has been the worst Krimmel has done. The following season the team went 9-2 and won its first Eastern championship.

"It was special because it was here (at Penn State)," Krimmel said about the first title. "I never dreamed that we'd win an Eastern championship that fast and by that much. It was such a drastic turnaround to go from third to first. It was really a shock."

The Lady Lions repeated as Eastern champions the next season, and finished an all-time best 20th in the nation.

Since then, the Lady Lions have been the dominant team in the East. Here is what Krimmel has accomplished since taking over.

-- He has compiled a 93-22 record, including this season's 9-1 mark.

-- His swimmers have made nine consecutive appearances in the NCAA championships.

-- The Lady Lions have won three Eastern championships (1982-83, 1983-84 and 1989-90).

-- Lady Lion swimmers have won 44 individual Eastern titles.

-- Penn State is the only EWSL team to compete for the NCAA title every year since its inception.

"He really has a handle on the technical aspects of competitive swimming," Perry said. "In addition, he is also a very sensitive individual. He relates very well to people."

Last season, the team went 9-2 and won its third Eastern title. Krimmel was also named the EWSL Coach of the Year, an award he also received in the 1987-88 season. Receiving this award, though, has no affect on the coach.

"It's good because you get recognized by your peers, but it's sort of goofy because you didn't swim one race," he said. "An awful lot of people go into the winning. The kids deserve all the credit. It should be a staff award."

Having had a part in coaching both men and women, Krimmel notices the differences as well as the similarities.

"You're still dealing with student athletes, so there are more similiarities than differences," Krimmel said. "The women are easier to get excited for a meet. Maybe they're more emotional, so it's easier to get them cranked up for a challenge."

Even with the recent inception into the Big Ten, the future for the women's swimming and diving team is still uncertain.

"We know we're going into the Big Ten, but we don't really know what that means for women's swimming," Krimmel said. "It's not a clear picture of what's ahead for us. All the details haven't been spelled out and all the facts aren't there. The picture is foggy."

There is a question of who the team will meet in the future. There is not a question of the team succeeding. Top recruits continue to come to the Lady Lions, and with Krimmel coaching, Penn State should remain one of the top programs in the nation.

"I really credit him as well as the competitive swimmers, who were drawn here because of Penn State being Penn State and because of his superior coaching ability," Perry said. "That combination is really the foundation of the success while he's been coach."