Springfield, Ohio – For the seventh straight year, Wittenberg University’s men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams joined hundreds of other college, high school and club teams across the country to raise awareness and funds for cancer research as part of the annual Hour of Power Relay.
Wittenberg participated in the event, which honors those who are fighting or have succumbed to cancer, on Tuesday, Nov. 12, in the HPER Center Natatorium. Organized in 2013 by senior Claire Kozlowski (Dublin, Ohio/Jerome) and junior Jared Crum (Galveston, Ind./Lewis Cass), Wittenberg’s Hour of Power an hour-long sprint relay in which team members swam 50-yard lengths of each different stroke. The team was divided into six lanes of eight to nine team members each, mixing the men’s and women’s teams together and including the members who compete only as divers during meets.
The national Hour of Power Relay program was started in 2005 at Carleton College after Ted Mullin, a member of the men’s swimming and diving team, died of a rare soft-tissue cancer called sarcoma. The event has grown to include more than thousands of student-athletes annually, all of whom raise money for the Ted Mullin Fund for Pediatric Sarcoma Research at the University of Chicago.
The Hour of Power Relay has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the battle against cancer. In addition to raising money and awareness about sarcoma, which disproportionately affects adolescents and young adults, the event aims to promote team spirit.
Prior to diving into the pool, team members huddled to reflect upon their experience, with several mentioning personal connections to cancer, including family losses and survivor stories as well. It provides an important time for team members to come together and reflect.
“The Hour of Power is definitely one of the high points of our season,” said junior Cameron Mackintosh (Lusaka, Zambia/American International). “After about eight hard weeks in the pool, it’s good to come together to try something different, and it’s all for a great cause.”
For more information, visit Carleton’s website. To make a contribution to Wittenberg’s Hour of Power fundraiser, contact Head Coach Natalie Koukis at (937) 327-6446 or via e-mail at nkoukis@wittenberg.edu.
Written By: Ryan Maurer
Video By: Megan Conkle '14 and Anthony Garcia '16