Wichita area swimmers go 100 miles in the pool, raise more than $20,000 in two days
Over the past seven years, swimmers at Campus High and other schools across Kansas have swam almost 5,000 miles and raised over $200,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Campus hosted its annual Swim-To-A-Wish fundraiser over the weekend. Five swimmers took 20 turns in the pool, going one mile each time. In between, they took hour-long naps as community members contributed to the cause. It took 46 hours.
After the event, the money goes to Make-A-Wish, who grants a wish to a child battling a critical illness often in the school’s district. Steve Crum, event coordinator and Campus swim coach, said the swimmers don’t know who the money is going to before the event but often get the chance to meet them after.
“I’m really surprised I’ve gotten through this interview without crying,” he said.
The event started in 2013 to help remember a coach’s daughter who lost a kidney after rounds of chemotherapy and cancer treatment. The Make-A-Wish Foundation sent the family to Disney World. The program wanted to bring Make-A-Wish back to Campus. Since then, several schools across the Wichita area and beyond have joined.
Ahead of the first event seven years ago, someone asked Crum what the goal was. He said $1,500. They hit that before the swimmers even got in the pool and quintupled it by the time the event was complete.
As the event continued to grow, an anonymous donor promised to match the money raised, doubling the effort. Other teams joined in, too. Crum said as many as 10 teams swam across Kansas.
This year, Derby and Wichita North were among the area teams swimming at Campus’ new swim facility. Great Bend, Salina Central and Salina South also joined; all together, the teams raised an event-high of about $24,000. Campus alone raised enough for two wishes at $15,294.
Each team swam 100 miles. Each swimmer went 20, and several supporters and fellow students got in the pool, too, to swim support laps alongside the athletes.
Campus senior Quinton Hicks is signed to play linebacker at South Dakota State. He was an All-Metro and All-State football selection and is one of the best athletes in the Wichita area. He got in the pool and swam a mile.
“After he got done, he said that was the hardest physical work he had ever done in his life,” Crum said. “He had only done a mile. The other guys are doing 20.”
Each athlete was in the pool for about 10 hours. The chlorine dried their skin and made their hair brittle, but Crum said Swim-For-A-Wish was something swimmers in the area look forward to every year.
“We have kids come to us all the time saying, ‘Hey, can I be one of the relay guys for the Swim-For-A-Wish,’” he said. “We have three guys this year that this was their third event. They started when they were sophomores, so they’ve each done 60 miles.”
This year’s relay team was TJ Lolling, Daine Crum, Blake Chadd, Brendon Chadd and Tyler Gains. All but one swam at the Kansas Class 6A state swim meet a week before.
Supporters brought in tables of food and a fridge full of drinks. They designed a crash area for the swimmers to rinse off, lotion up and sleep.
“It’s hard for even us to wrap our heads around what it’s turned into,” Crum said. “We get really emotional about this. It is like a bawl-a-thon at the end of this. It’s hard to watch because you know how hard it is on them, but they always come back to the kids they’re trying to grant wishes for are going through stuff that goes on for year and years. And they’re struggling for a week.”
This story was originally published February 26, 2019 at 4:24 PM with the headline "Wichita area swimmers go 100 miles in the pool, raise more than $20,000 in two days."