Sept. 23, 2008

Lehigh's swimming and diving team joined in the fight against breast cancer by running in the Susan Komen 5k Run for Breast Cancer Sunday September 14th. The event took place in New York City's Central Park with over 40 Lehigh swimmers and divers in attendance, along with parents and friends. Although this is only the second year the team has participated, they were able to raise over $ 1,000 for the event.

Even with the heat which engulfed the city, the team had an aura of energy they brought with them. Wearing brown shirts with `LEHIGH' written across it, the team was attracting parents of Lehigh students as well as young alumni.

"We're leading and following," said Head Coach Rob Herb." It hits closer to home for us and I am very proud of this team in representing themselves."

The connection that places significant meaning to this race for this Mountain Hawk team is the fact that Julie Sicherman, a junior swimmer who organized the trip, helped her mother fight breast cancer two years ago.

"I always knew about this race. There is one outside of Princeton too but I thought it would be cool to do this in NYC," said Sicherman. "I was so excited about the amount of people we got to come."

With 50,000 plus runners in the race, Sicherman took notice to those who have won their battles with cancer or are continuing that path.

"It was interesting. You see how many people are affected by the disease," said Sicherman. "My goal is for the team to do this every year."

Story by: Courtney Molinaro `09