Tampa Men's Lacrosse Participates in Tunnels to Towers 5k
CLEARWATER, Fla.– The University of Tampa Men's Lacrosse team participated in the Tunnel to Towers 5K run and walk in Clearwater on Saturday, November 6.
The event was held in remembrance of Stephen Hiller, a New York City firefighter who heroically gave up his own life saving others in the towers of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. Hiller's family puts on 5k events across the country in an effort to raise money for catastrophically injured veterans & first responders, fallen first responder families as well as gold star families.
All 75 players from the Spartans Lacrosse program participated in the event. Out of the 372 race participants, five Spartans finished the race in the top 20. Junior, Jackson Day led the effort finishing in second place with a time of 20 minutes and 31 seconds. Ben Bickerstaff, Hayden Toth, Daniel Fitzpatrick and Robert Lobello all finished within the top 20 overall.
New York native and senior attacker, Luke McAnaney who helped organize and coordinate the event mentioned how the team plans on participating in the event in the future. He went on to say, "It's not a one-time thing, we will be back hopefully next year to support this great foundation and raise money for those injured first responders. Our goal is to do anything we can to support this great foundation."
Spartans' senior midfielder Marc Whitaker was inspired by his fellow teammates and their efforts during and leading up to the event. He went on to say, "It was great to see everyone in the program come out and get out there early to support such a good cause." New York native and senior attacker Daniel Fitzpatrick, whose father is a retired FDNY firefighter of over 20 years added, "It was very humbling seeing all the firefighters on the side of the race cheer us on. It really pushed us to give a maximum effort and finish the race."
All together, the team helped to raise over $4,000 dollars for the Tunnel to Towers foundation and will continue to raise funds over the course of the year. The team will continue its service efforts on as they participate in Caddy's for a Cause, a Wounded Warrior Project golf outing on December 4.
The Spartans will continue their preparation for the 2022 season this Friday as they host an intrasquad scrimmage at the Naimoli Family Athletic Complex.