EDWARDSVILLE – The name of Allison Cassens still means much to the Edwardsville swimming community.
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Cassens, who was a world-class swimmer from Edwardsville, is the inspiration behind Allison's Hope, an organization named in her honor that supports efforts in research to fight cancer; Cassens died of the disease in October 2004.
This season, Edwardsville's girls and boys swimming teams held fund-raising meets, both called Swim for HOPE, for the organization, the girls for the second time in September and the boys for the first time in January; both meets raised a total of $1,790.75 for Allison's Hope. A presentation ceremony was held Monday afternoon at Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center at Edwardsville High School.
“It puts an exclamation point of two big events we had during our high school swimming season,” said EHS coach Christian Rhoten. “We had the girls Swim for HOPE meet, which was our second annual this year, and then we had our first boys Swim For HOPE this year; they're growing meets, they're big invitationals. We've have a great facility to host this kind of thing and we're thankful to have to be able to have this and raise some money for a great foundation.
“The Cassens family and Allison have some great ties to the swimming community and I think it's a great way for us to swim for a purpose; I know the kids and the athletes on our teams understand the purpose of it and they are really engaged in that process.”
Funds raised by Allison's Hope help support research efforts at the Mary Crowley Medical Research Center in Dallas; the center works with several Texas-based institutions and with UCLA to help develop new therapies for those with cancer. For more information on the organization, visit www.allisonshope.com on-line.
