The Ionia Girls Varsity Swim Team traveled to Hastings on Tuesday night for the last dual meet of the season. The girls lost to Delton Kellogg-Thornapple-Kellogg-Hastings, 78-88 but won the battle vs. cancer.  See, the real story went beyond the races in the water to the story of two teams coming together to support one swimmer, Lydia Cole. Lydia is a DK-TK-Hastings swimmer who is currently fighting a battle with cancer. The Ionia girls wore #teamlydia caps to show their support, thanks to a generous donation. The team also collected donations and pop cans over the last 4 days (with the help of many parents) and donated over $680 to Lydia and her family to help with medical costs. Kennedee Ward, an Ionia freshman swimmer and cancer survivor, presented Lydia with the donation, and they shared a very touching moment of support. The camaraderie and kindness on the deck were definitely the story tonight. 

Below is the wonderful email I received from the Hastings scorekeeper about our girls.

Last night the lady bulldogs came to the Hastings pool.  Some girls had their personal best times in the water! It was great to see them reach a time goal they may have set for themselves earlier in the season.

What I am writing to you about is what happened out of the water.

One of our teammates, Lydia Cole, is currently battling cancer.  The entire Ionia team went to the teamlydia.com website and purchased swim caps to support Lydia.  It gave me goosebumps when I saw every single girl put on that swim cap to compete.  It was such a small and kind gesture but the effects were enormous. It helped to show Lydia that she is not alone in this fight!

And if that was not enough...the team took up a collection and presented Lydia and her family with a donation after the meet.  

In years from now I will not remember the score of the meet from last night but I will remember that great act of sportsmanship.  What an absolute class act of a team!

Kindest regards!

Thank you ladies for representing our school and community in such a positive light. Bulldog nation is very proud of you!