Team members take part in Wittenberg's edition of the 2009 "Ted Mullin Leave it in the Pool, Hour of Power Relay"
Springfield, Ohio - Wittenberg University's men's and women's swimming and diving teams joined 126 other college, high school and club teams across the country to raise awareness for cancer research as part of the fourth annual "Ted Mullin Leave it in the Pool, Hour of Power Relay" event Monday, Nov. 9, in the HPER Center Natatorium.
The national program was started four years ago 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, which took place for the second straight year at Wittenberg, has grown to include 102 college teams in 33 conferences, 10 high schools, 12 clubs and three teams of study abroad students in 2009. All donations raised will be sent to the "Ted Mullin Fund for Sarcoma Research" at the University of Chicago.
The event, organized by men's team co-captain Neil Anderson, class of 2010 from Lakewood, Ohio, and women's team co-captain Amy Prugh, class of 2010 from Indianapolis, Ind., was an hour-long sprint relay in which team members swam 50-yard lengths of each different stroke. At 5 p.m. the Tigers dove into the pool to begin their fight against cancer, spending their first 15 minutes swimming freestyle, followed by 10 minutes of butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke. The final 15 minutes were spent pushing through another segment of freestyle laps. 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.
Afterward, team members huddled to reflect upon their experience, with several mentioning personal connections to cancer, including family losses and survivor stories as well. For added motivation, team members needed only to look to assistant coaches Daneen Maughmer and Jim Smith, both of whom are cancer survivors.
"I think this was a great experience, and I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to participate in it for the second year in a row," Prugh said. "I'm so glad we have started a tradition here at Wittenberg, and I hope it will continue for many years to come."
While money was raised for an excellent cause, the event also helped build team unity and enthusiasm heading into the home stretch of the first half of the 2009-10 season.
"It was cool to see this event so widespread because I knew Ted's family and his parents came to our school to encourage us to start the Hour of Power at the college we went to," said Ward McNulty, class of 2013 from Glencoe, Ill. "It was great to find out that it was already started here."
Prugh said the original goal was to exceed last year's total of $1,500, and she said that she believes team members will successfully reach that total through requests of friends, family members, faculty and staff members. Pledges are still being accepted.