The UMBC Swim & Dive team has been a supporter and partner for Swim Across America Baltimore since 2021, and last Thursday Head Coach Matt Donovan attended the 2024 check presentation to Hopkins, where a check for $419,000 was presented to Bill Nelson, Director of the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. These funds will support cancer research and clinical trials in the Swim Across America Baltimore Lab at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. 

"It is a tremendous honor for our program to be associated with Swim Across America and I was truly humbled to be invited to the check presentation ceremony tonight," said Donovan. "When you hear statements like 'over 25 cancer treatments were approved of by the FDA in the last four months alone' it really blows you away.  This proves that without a shadow of a doubt the $419,000.00 we raised in 2024 and the near $6.2 million SAAB raised in the past 15 years saved lives.  There is no question in my mind that the swims we do with this organization each year are the most important events on our calendar".  

The partnership will continue with the second annual UMBC Polar Plunge scheduled for March 30, 2025.
 

2024's inaugural Polar Plunge was hosted at UMBC with the Swim & Dive Team and raised over $2,500 as the kickoff event to the SAA Baltimore season. This year's Polar Plunge, scheduled for March 30, 2025, has already raised over $10,000! The UMBC Swim & Dive team fundraised over $4,500 in 2024 for multiple events, including the Coppermine Meadowbrook Pool Swim and the UMBC Polar Plunge.

Swim Across America Baltimore has raised over $6 million in the past 15 years supporting cancer research at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, including providing the initial funding for research resulting in the groundbreaking drug pembrolizumab, marketed as Keytruda. Each year we are proud to host over 450 swimmers, volunteers, supporters, and Olympians at our open water and pool swims throughout the greater Baltimore area. Whether you are a veteran swimmer, part of a swim team, or you're looking to do your first open water swim, we welcome you to help us Make Waves to Fight Cancer.

For more information check out Swim Across America Baltimore