Somewhere within the two-day, four-meet sweep at Michigan State, the women's swimming and diving team gave the man it calls "Krim" his 100th victory as head coach.

Coach Bob Krimmel's blood "runs blue and white."

He has been involved with Penn State and its swimming program for more than two decades. Krimmel competed on the men's swimming team for four years, graduating in 1973. He was a graduate assistant and then an assistant coach for both the men's and women's teams for the next eight years.

In 1981, Krimmel succeeded Ellen Perry as coach of the women's team. In his first season, he guided the team to a 7-4 record and a second-place finish in the Eastern Finals. In the next two years he achieved two 9-2 records and two first-place finishes at Easterns.

Krimmel has coached the team through ten consecutive winning seasons. His teams have garnered ten top-three finishes at Easterns, including three titles. For all but one season they have earned spots in the top 33 at the national championships. He has twice been named the Eastern Women's Swimming League Coach of the Year, in 1987-88 and 1989-90. Despite these accomplishments, he said he is most proud "that I'm still coaching and it's still fun."

Now Krimmel has a new place to lead his Lady Lions -- into the Big Ten.

"Being in the Big Ten is almost like changing jobs," he said. "Suddenly, we're flying to a couple new places and Big Ten championships. I'm meeting new people, going new places, learning a new system. In essence, it's been like retraining.

"It's been fun. I've probably had more fun this year than the kids have because they have to work so hard."

Now in his 11th season as head coach, Krimmel's current record stands at 103-23. While such a record would suggest coaching excellence, Krimmel said the success of the program is the result of "the swimmers" talents. And I've been blessed with four excellent assistants."

His current assistant coach, Mary Bolich, said Krimmel deserves a lot of credit, both for his coaching ability and his personality.

"He's much more patient than some coaches I've worked with," she said. "He allows the athletes to grow within themselves -- to grow as individuals as well as well as swimmers. That's a very positive quality.

"He's very big on positive reinforcement. He recognizes the good things. The swimmers can all trust him. They know what he tells them is always going to benefit them. That trust is the whole base of his relationship with the team."

Krimmel said there have been many outstanding swimmers and personalities on his teams in the past, many of whom still keep in touch and send him greeting cards at Christmastime.

"I'll probably do a disservice to the earlier people," he said. "But two of the people who graduated last year, Debbie Finn and Debbie Wilder, will always stand out because of their personalities. Sandy Bizal will stand out because of her personality and the kind of team person she was.

"People stand out more because of the kind of people they were. Once they leave, (their performances) fade and you tend to remember the kind of characters they were."

Krimmel, who teaches classes in the exercise science program, stresses the necessity of a good academic performance to his team, and the team has been rewarded with the Team Academic All-American Award for the past two seasons.

More than the victories and the accolades, it is important for a coach to have a good relationship with his team. What do members of Krimmel's team think of their coach?

"Krim's more involved than my previous coaches," said Deni Rudy, a freshman freestyle sprinter. "(And) he works on techniques --turns, starts -- things I've never done before. I've learned more this year than ever before, and it's going to help me a lot. I love him as a coach."

"He's really a great motivator," senior Beth Haas said. "Not many coaches can get you motivated to get up at 5:30 in the morning for practice. It takes a special person."

Krimmel said he would like to continue coaching for as long as possible, but "you never know. You never know when that day comes and you say 'I need to do something else.' (But) I hope I'm around for another hundred. Right now I'm happy doing what I'm doing."