By Julia Sparco
Elm Staff Writer
With the pain of ending the season early due to the COVID-19 pandemic, student athletes everywhere have been trying to find something to look forward to. On Monday, April 6, the Washington College women’s lacrosse team participated in their last shift virtual 5k challenge. The virtual 5k challenge was spearheaded by the HEADstrong Foundation.
No one could have anticipated how this season would end, let alone the seniors’ athletic career, but this gave the team an opportunity to be a part of something that was bigger than themselves and raise money for cancer patients.
“The last shift 5k was really fun to run. I really loved how we were able to still help the headstrong foundation raise money even though we are all apart in quarantine,” said junior Meghan Dean. “It didn’t feel like you were running alone at all because you knew your teammates were running it too.”
Three student-athletes of the WC women’s lacrosse team came up with this idea after COVID-19 cut their season short. They asked others to join in and help them run 5ks in their own neighborhoods while practicing social distancing at 12 p.m. EST, Monday, April 6.
Junior captain Anna Bennett said, “It was really exciting to get the team together for a good cause after we had just lost our season. The virtual 5k was a great way to raise awareness for the Headstrong Foundation and stay active. Our team exceeded our fundraising goal and we were able to get other teams in the WC athletics community involved.”
They broadcasted themselves running the 5k under the hashtag #theLastShift2020 to unite the posts and also posted it to the @washcollwlax Instagram.