Track Team's Involvement

December 1, 2008 -- Track Team's Involvement

by Jeff Friedman, Jaeger Civic Intern

Over the past few months, the Men's and Women's Track teams have been very active in the community working with the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth, Thetford Mentoring and Special Olympics. The track teams are the biggest teams at Dartmouth and have members serving in Thetford Mentoring, Athletes United, and Dream.

Over the summer, the Children's Hospital at Dartmouth sponsored a half-marathon that began and ended on the green. This race attracted hundreds of runners in addition to the 20 members of the men's and women's track teams who volunteered to help coordinate the race. The student-athletes manned water stations as well as helped direct traffic and runners at many intersections. The women's coach, Maribel Souther, was one of the founders of this great race and encouraged the members of both teams to participate.

The track teams are also involved in student-run community organizations. Jason Lyon, a '10 on the Cross Country and Track and Field Teams, participated in the Thetford Mentoring Program. He goes to Thetford Elementary School once a week and serves as a mentor to a 4^th grader. Jason has been participating in Thetford Mentoring for two years and loves being able to do homework, play games, eat lunch, and look after a young student. Lyon also noted that other track members such as Lauren Campfield, Ali Smrcina, and Monica Hernandez are involved in Thetford Mentoring.

Track athletes have given a tremendous amount of time to local community service organizations. In addition to the individual organizations the track athletes generously donate their time to help sponsor the Special Olympics track race every year. They donate their time by helping to run the race, serve water, point to directions to run, and simply motivate the athletes. We all look forward to the continued service of both the Men's and Women's track teams to the Upper Valley community in the coming year.

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