Olivet College swim team to join 7,200 athletes across the nation in the eighth annual Hour of Power

OLIVET, Mich. – On Tuesday, Nov. 12, Olivet College will join thousands of athletes across the country in support of the Ted Mullin "Leave it in the Pool" Hour of Power Relay.  Over the first seven years of this event, participants raised over $410,000 to support research at the University of Chicago into the causes and treatment of sarcoma, a rare soft-tissue cancer, in young people.

First started to honor former Carleton (Minn.) College swimmer Ted Mullin, who passed away in the fall of 2006 from sarcoma, the Ted Mullin "Hour of Power" Relay has grown from 15 teams in its first year to 171 teams in 2012 with 8,300 participating athletes who joined forces to honor all those who are fighting against or have lost the battle to cancer.

Last year's event included 111 college and university programs representing 38 conferences across NCAA Division I, II and III, and Independents, along with 54 high-school and club teams. Also participating were a Masters team in Sweden and The American International School of Muscat, Oman.

The event holds a special meaning to Olivet Head Swimming and Diving Coach Elise Knoche, as she swam at Carleton with Mullin before his untimely death. "I am excited for our student-athletes to participate in the 'Hour of Power' for a second straight year," said Knoche. "Ted was a true friend and teammate of mine at Carleton. Although he is no longer with us, his spirit lives on through the 'Hour of Power,' which lets us make a difference in the world by raising awareness for sarcoma."

This year's numbers are on pace to match last year's totals. All those athletes will hit the pool with a shared goal—to "think outside the pool" in order to increase awareness about sarcoma and raise money for the Ted Mullin Fund for Pediatric Sarcoma Research at the Comer Children's Hospital at the University of Chicago.

2013 Ted Mullin "Hour of Power" Relay registrations to date:

Total Registered Teams: 146
Colleges and Universities:  96
High School and Club Teams:  46
International Teams: 4
Estimated Athletes: 7,200

For a full description of what participants do during the event and how donated funds are used, please visit http://go.carleton.edu/HourOfPower.