For two weeks the Liberty Hurricanes were under strict orders to “Don’t tell Reik” because they knew something the Liberty swim coach didn’t: that on Feb. 8, Coach Reik Foust would be celebrated for achieving 600 career wins after the Hurricanes’ home meet against Easton on Jan. 20.

It was fitting that the celebration, which included Coach Foust’s family, past and present swimmers, their parents, coaches, and fans took place during the Liberty versus Freedom swim meet since Foust began his coaching career at Freedom.

As Foust unknowingly commented, “There’s an awful lot of people here,” the Hurricane swim team lined up on the pool deck mid-meet, and Liberty athletic director Fred Harris took the microphone to reveal the surprise.

“Swimming can be the most, if not the most, it is the most grueling and sometimes personal sport that exists,” Harris began. “These kids, a lot of times, compete against themselves because they’re always trying to be better than they were before. To make it interesting and fun, you need special people alongside of you, and that’s Reik Foust.

“He’s been at Liberty High School, in our summer program throughout our community in Bethlehem, at Northwest Swim Club, at the Bethlehem YMCA, he’s been at Saucon, he’s been all over this city in the name of swimming. And it gives me great pleasure to commemorate his 600th win, which I will tell you, doesn’t mean a ton to him. What means a ton to him are every one of you: the kids that he’s coached and the friendships that he’s formed, and the connections he’s made over 30 years. He hates this, I know that. But we love him.”

Harris then presented Coach Foust with a handmade plaque by Liberty assistant swim coach Evan Kocon.

“On behalf of the athletic department at Liberty High School, at Freedom High School, our school district, congratulations, Coach Foust, on your 600th career win,” said Harris as the natatorium broke out in huge applause.

Foust, who coached for 12 years at Freedom and 18 years at Liberty, and who admittedly likes swim practices more than swim meets, was visibly surprised, touched and thanked everyone who was in attendance.

“It’s a labor of love, a passion. I love it. I love every day being here,” Foust said. “I have to thank my wife and kids. My grandkids are here. I have great coaches that I’ve been working with for years, Evan (Kocon) and Jeff (Matyus) and Emily Kocis, and they make every day special, and I love being here every second I can. So thank you very much. I really appreciate it. Thank you very much.”

After a few photos were taken on the pool deck, the swim meet resumed, resulting in two more victories for Coach Foust and the Liberty Hurricanes, as the girls won, 94-73, and the boys won, 98-48.

“I’ve known him for longer than four years because I started swimming for the Y when I was 10,” said Liberty senior and captain Monica Bruno. “When I first started, I was pretty shy, but he was always there cheering me on. He gave me the nickname Mons, and as I started swimming longer, pretty much the whole team called me that, and before I started events, he’d be like, ‘Go, Mons’ and stuff like that, so I think he really made me enjoy the sport, and I couldn’t imagine swimming for a team with a different coach.”

Bruno and her teammates had been looking forward to this day since winning the Easton meet.

“I was excited,” she said. “We’ve known about it for a couple weeks but they told us, ‘Don’t tell Reik’ because everyone wanted it to be a surprise. We found out when he actually had his 600th win, so then after that they started planning for this meet to be a surprise. At the Whitehall meet, it was kind of funny because they had a record from one of the Liberty girls, and it was from 2004, and I was like, ‘Oh, Reik, that’s the year I was born,’ and he was like, ‘I was coaching then,’ so he’s been impacting the league for a long time.”