Tar Heels Team Up To Support Relay For Life
April 22, 2015 | Field Hockey, Women's Rowing, Swimming & Diving, Carolina Outreach
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – They're still a bit short on sleep, but sophomore swimmers Abby Fisher and Katie McKay are already looking forward to next year's Relay for Life event. That's how big a success this year's effort was.
During the spring of 2014, the two came up with the idea of forming a Carolina Athletics Relay for Life team. A year later, with the help of many other Tar Heel student-athletes and staff members, the plan came to fruition over the weekend at UNC's 2015 Relay for Life. The Carolina Athletics team raised nearly $7,000 and participated throughout the event, held Friday and Saturday at Fetzer Field/Belk Track.
“It definitely exceeded our expectations,” said McKay, a biology/psychology double major from Holmdel, N.J. “We thought in the beginning that we would have about 10 student-athletes showing up, and yet we had over 100. We also had no idea that we would be able to raise this much money, considering our first goal was $2,200.”
“It was just incredible how much support we got and how successful it was,” said Fisher, a psychology/exercise and sport science major from Kinnelon, N.J. “We are definitely planning on doing it again, and hopefully getting even more participants.”
Beginning with opening ceremonies on Friday evening, participants walked on the track through the night, for a total of 14 hours. Each team keeps members on the track at all times. In the final tally, the Carolina Athletics team included participation from 109 student-athletes – all the more impressive considering that most of the spring sports teams were competing on the road – as well as 12 staff members and two coaches.
The teams on the road showed their support by emailing and tweeting photos.
“Abby and Katie showed great initiative by forming the Carolina Athletics team and rallying their fellow student-athletes to participate,” said Ochuko Jenije, UNC's Assistant Director of Student-Athlete Development, a role in which he oversees community outreach activities. “It was our largest event of the year in terms of numbers of participants, and it was a great way for staff to get involved, too. Everyone had a great time and really appreciated all the work Abby and Katie spent organizing."