The Mercyhurst Sports Medicine Student Association and the Mercyhurst softball team are joining together for the first time to organize a 5K run/walk to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.

The Wounded Warrior Project is a national charity and veterans organization which provides a wide variety of programs, services and events for wounded veterans.
The decision to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project arose last year, according to Leanne Baker, head coach of the softball team and one of the event’s orchestrator.

“We have a handful of Sports Medicine majors on the softball team. Last year we were thinking of new community service projects that we could tackle and this idea came up,” Baker said.

Veterans are not always receiving the care they deserve, according to Bradley Jacobson, the assistant director of the Sports Medicine Department and co-organizer of the event. This was another reason the groups decided to take on this project.

“We are just attempting to assist and show our veterans that our community cares about them and they are not forgotten for the sacrifice that they have given to the citizens of our country,” Jacobson said.

Baker said she hopes they are able to make a significant donation to the cause.

The Sports Medicine Department has previous experience organizing 5k races, including the Linked by Pink Race in April of 2015 that supported breast cancer awareness and raised funds for local patients and their families.

“Our department has organized 5K races across our campus for over 10 years.

Leanne Baker contacted me to see if I was interested in organizing a joint effort,” Jacobson said.

Student chairs and co-chairs in the Sports Medicine Student Association who are involved with the event include Shannon Minihane, who is also a softball player, Sklyer Snyder, Lynne Gillott, August Mezzio, Connor Moran, Mike Lawson, Paul Callahan, Georgia Rieger, and Jena Clinch.

Members of the softball team will assist these students to organize the event.

The run/walk, which will take place Nov. 15, and costs $20, will begin outside the Mercyhurst Rec Center at 8 a.m. The race is set to begin at 9 a.m.
Awards will be presented to the top two overall male and female finishers.

“We are hoping for a strong Mercyhurst community turn out. It’s the perfect tune up race for a turkey trot or holiday run,” Baker said.