Girls cross country runs for cancer awareness

For the second year, cross country raises money to fight breast and ovarian cancer

Lindsey Burns, Sports Editor

In support of breast and ovarian cancer awareness, girls cross country ran more than 800 miles in a day and raised over $12,000 for Bright Pink, a Chicago-based non-profit.
According to their website, Bright Pink’s mission is to “save women’s lives from breast and ovarian cancer by empowering them to live proactively at a young age.”
The group’s educational and fundraising programs aim to inspire women to become advocates for their personal health.
The message resonated with the girls cross country team, said Captain Rani Mehta.
“Bright Pink is an organization that was founded to save the lives of women with breast and ovarian cancer,” Mehta said.
The team raised money that “supports education and early detection for women so they can prevent these life-threatening but prevalent diseases.”
Cross country’s involvement with Bright Pink began last year. “We wanted to pick a cause that girls on the team would feel passionate about, and I think breast and ovarian cancer are issues that have, or will, impact every girl’s life at some point,” Mehta said. “Bright Pink advocates for an issue that is close to all of our hearts.”
John Burnside, girls cross country’s head coach, said, “The thing that was great about Bright Pink is that there’s also an educational component to it. So we were able to bring the educators from Bright Pink to the team and help them gain some knowledge about their own risks, and the options and resources that are available.”
To support the cause, the girls ran the distance from Chicago to New York.
“As a team we ran over 800 miles in a single day,” Burnside said. As of now, “the team raised $12,062 and it’s still open. That actually exceeds last year, which was just under $12,000. So that means we’ve raised almost $25,000 between the two years.”
Everyone on the team was involved in this year’s effort. “Each member of the team reached out to family members, friends, neighbors, really anyone who was willing to support the cause,” Captain Grace Fagan said. “Breast and ovarian cancer is something that has affected almost every single family, so we have received so much support from so many people.”
The team recognized the importance of the issue. “This fundraiser has allowed every girl on the team to see that we have power to unite and work for a common goal that is so much bigger than ourselves,” Mehta said.
“It’s been really amazing to see our whole team get involved. We have some girls who have raised up to a thousand dollars, and some girls who have raised ten,” she said.
Fundraising gave some of the girls who aren’t usually leaders in cross country a chance to expand their capabilities. “It allowed athletes on the team to embrace something else about the team. There are so many different aspects of every athletic team, you can strive for athletic excellence or to be a great teammate or a great leader,” Burnside said. “But with this many girls you really want to open up the opportunities to make this team valuable to the individuals. For certain girls, this really I believe, has given them something they find they can lead and they can make their own.”
Senior Olivia Hemmer noted, “It was really great that such a good cause was able to bring the entire team together. It was the first time that the whole team ran together which was everyone in different running groups and abilities.”
The fundraiser successfully unified the team. “With a team of around 230 girls, it’s impossible to make everyone best friends,” Fagan said. “However, the ability of the team to come together to support one very important cause has lent itself to a very supportive environment at practice and meets. It’s amazing to see so many people working so hard to give back to women who need it.”