The St. Thomas swim team hosted its fourth consecutive “Hour of Power” Tuesday afternoon in the Anderson Aquatic Center to raise awareness and donations for cancer research in honor of former Carleton swim captain Edward “Ted” Mullin.

Since Mullin passed away in 2006 from synovial sarcoma, the event has grown from 15 participating teams in the inaugural event to more than 172 from across the globe this year, all hoping to raise awareness for sarcoma.

Coach Scott Blanchard said the Tommies’ intention was to leave “everything in the pool” for Ted.

“The relay was one of Ted’s favorite practices during the season,” Blanchard said. “He would always like to leave everything in the pool and work as hard as he could. So one of the things we try to do to honor his memory is to give it 100 percent every time we hit the water.”

This year, the Augsburg women’s team and students not on the St. Thomas swim team joined the Tommies to swim for 60 minutes straight.

Blanchard said while the event was exponentially better last year than in the previous two, he thinks the event will continue to gather steam.

“My first two years, we raised $400. Last year we raised $1,100 and we are hoping to surpass that number easily this year,” Blanchard said before joining his team in the pool.

Each swimmer was asked to bring in $10, which corporate sponsors matched dollar-for-dollar, to donate to the Ted Mullin research fund at the University of Chicago.

Wearing a T-shirt reading “Cancer Sucks,” Maureen Manley, a St. Thomas graduate and cousin of Mullin, said the event has picked up in recent years.

“In the past five years, the Ted Mullin research fund has collected over $500,000 at the University of Chicago, and it’s only spreading,” said Manley.

Tommie swimmer Jack Hiniker helped organize the event and said his motivation was that everyone has some kind of tie to cancer.

“Everyone knows someone affected by cancer somehow, and that’s what made me want to step up and take charge of this event,” said Hiniker.

Hiniker said the team is looking to getting towels and T-shirts to help promote the event.

“This year we really focused on raising money from within, but next year, as we have in years past, we plan to order towels and T-shirts to wear before the event to get the word out and to raise money,” Hiniker said.

Kaarin Taylor, a 2009 Carleton graduate, swam with Mullin and said his impact during that time has kept her coming back to the event for nine years in a row.

“The ability for one person’s deep tragedy to impact so many people and swimmers together from around the globe is just an amazing and positive spin on a really sad situation,” Taylor said.

For Taylor, staying involved and getting to know other people through Mullin has been a blessing.

“That’s what Ted was all about. Ted was about taking the worst situation and making it as good as you possibly can at the time,” Taylor said. “Ultimately, he has touched so many lives beyond just his time that was here.”

Luke Moe can be reached at Moe95234@stthomas.edu.