Westover swim team raises Wounded Warrior funds

The Westover swim team raised $8,400 for the Wounded Warrior Project earlier this year. Lap by lap, 15 members of Westover’s varsity and junior varsity swim teams swam back and forth for an hour in the team’s pool to raise the money. By the end of the hour’s swim, they had completed 1,765 laps.

Swim Coach Kati Eggert came up with the idea of holding a swimathon on behalf of a charity. She then offered choices of several charities to the swimmers, and they selected the Wounded Warrior Project. It helps injured military personnel.

For about a week before the Feb. 13 event,  the 15 swimmers gathered “per-lap” pledges from fellow students, Westover faculty and staff,  family members and friends, with pledge amounts ranging from a penny a lap to $10 a lap.

While the students swam their laps during the swimathon,  fellow students and faculty cheered on the swimmers. Members of Westover’s “thirds” swim team volunteered as lap counters at the event, along with nine girls from one of Westover’s fitness and weight training classes.

Eggert praised the swimmers not only for their fundraising efforts, but also for their dedication and commitment throughout the swimathon. “They were so focused on achieving their goal,” she said. “One student didn’t even know that [Head of School] Ann Pollina was there cheering them on until the end of the event. They were swimming for a goal outside of themselves, their team and their school community.”

Parley Hannan, a Westover senior from Orlean, Va., swims 145 laps during a fundraising swimathon for the Wounded Warrior project. (Submitted photo)

By the end of the swimathon, several of the swimmers had swum more than two miles, Eggert said. The 15 students – and their completed laps – were Parley Hannan, a senior from Orlean, Va., 145; Hannah Tompkins, a senior from Pennsburg, Pa., 135; Maya Neuhoff , a sophomore from Sandy Hook, 132; Abby Hodson, a sophomore from Monroe, 130; Amodini Katoch, a freshman from Southbury, 128; Sophia Hodson, a senior from Monroe, 128; Tais Marin, a senior from Austin, Texas, 125; Sophie McLaughlin, a sophomore from Brewster, N.Y., 122; Katie Kuenzle, a senior from Roxbury, 122; Emily Desjardins, a freshman from Watertown, 108; Rachel Yerks, a junior from Sharon, 108; Rachel Roometua, a junior from Indio, Calif., 104; Gracey Greco, a sophomore from Hong Kong, 102; Thayer King, a freshman from Ashburn, Va., 100; and Alex Kagan, a sophomore from Ipswich, Mass., 76.