PAC Student Athletes Raise Over $2,500 for Special Olympics

_{Image courtesy PAC. The Westminster volleyball team received moral support from head coach Tammy Swearingen (third from left). — with Taylor Frank, Tara Ott, Megan Romocean, Katie Palkovic, Alaura Hanssen, Kassie Freyermuth, Julie Powell, Chrissy Marie Volsko, Claire Ferrando, Tara Incerpi and Erica Braunsberg.}

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) today raised over $2,500 for the Pennsylvania Special Olympics, as 31 PAC SAAC members participated in the 2nd Annual Pittsburgh Polar Plunge in the Allegheny River outside Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. The group included conference student-athletes, coaches and SAAC advisors. With sunny skies and the water temperature around 40 degrees, the PAC SAAC group took the dip into the frigid Allegheny River at around 1 p.m.

This is the first time the PAC SAAC has participated in the Pittsburgh Polar Plunge. The new conference-wide initiative followed the announcement at the 2011 NCAA Convention of a new national partnership between the NCAA Division III national SAAC and the Special Olympics. As a result of the national program, the PAC SAAC decided to support a local conference-wide initiative to support the new national partnership .

"I am very proud of our conference student-athletes for participating in such a great event and for how enthusiastic they were about getting involved," said PAC Associate Director Shannon O'Brien, who also serves as the PAC advisor. "It was great to have the student-athletes from different schools in the conference participate together in the plunge. Hopefully, next year we can get an even larger group of student-athletes from the PAC to take part in supporting this great event."

The mission of Special Olympics PA is to provide year-round sports training and competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills, and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.