Swimming & Diving, Synchronized Swimming Teams Participate in Hour of Power Relay

The Wheaton College men's and women's swimming and diving teams and the synchronized swimming team recently participated in the seventh annual Ted Mullin "Hour of Power" Relay on Monday, November 19 raising funds for pediatric sarcoma research.

The "Hour of Power" Relay event honors Carleton College swimmer Ted Mullin who passed away in the fall of 2006 from sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer. Funds raised through the event support research at the University of Chicago into the causes and treatment of sarcoma in young people.

Carleton College held its first "Hour of Power" Relay on November 7, 2006 and has seen the charity event blossom from 15 team in its first year to over 160 teams in 2011 with 8,000 student-athletes participating. Over the past six years, participants in the "Hour of Power" Relay have raised over $330,000 for the Ted Mullin Fund for pediatric sarcoma research at the Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago.

The relay event is a "leave it in the pool" type of practice where all participants swim in continuous relays of any stroke for one hour with the objective of keeping all relays in each lane on the same length. All programs who take part in the "Hour of Power" Relay do so in their respective home pools. Participation is encouraged by all programs to raise team spirit and sarcoma awareness whether or not the program is able to fundraise.

Several schools from the New England Women's and Men's Athletic Conference (NEWMAC) took part in last year's event including Babson, Clark, MIT, Wellesley, Wheaton and WPI.

The Wheaton College swimming and diving teams return to action on Friday, November 30 at the MIT Invitational at 6:30 p.m. The Lyons synchronized swimming team travels to Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y. on February 2 at 2 p.m. for the Canisius Invitational at Koessler Athletic Center Pool.