STARKVILLE — The Starkville Swim Team will host a club fundraiser at Mississippi State University’s Sanderson Center on April 12. The Ultimate Relay event will be a chance for the team to showcase its athletes and their accomplishments from the past year while raising funds for future events.
“It’s similar to a swimathon, where individuals would swim for two hours and see how many laps they can do,” team coach Melissa Hubley said. “We’re doing it in a relay format with teams of four and they’ll each swim a lap in a continuous relay. It’s a two-hour event and we’ll stop every 30 minutes to switch strokes and give a prize to the team with the most laps in that stroke.”
The fundraiser will help pay for the team’s equipment and travel expenses to competitions, allowing more Starkville swimmers to qualify for and compete at some of the top meets in the country.
Two team members traveled over the weekend to compete at the Best of the South swim meet in Atlanta. Breih Magnanua, 17, and Teddy Brain, 14, competed against the best from across the Southeast, and Brain finished in sixth out of 90 competitors in the 100-meter freestyle.
“It’ll directly go to the swimmers,” Hubley continued. ”We have to travel for every meet, the closest is in Tupelo. We just went to Atlanta, we went to Auburn, we go to the Delta, Jackson and Biloxi. The money goes to travel for the team, help getting equipment, it goes directly to our swimmers’ benefit.”
There are platinum, gold, silver, bronze and individual sponsor tiers available for donors, who can donate on site or via paypal at: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=WDQKCMSJEELBC
The club team went independent last year after existing as Shockwave, part of a club with chapters in Oxford and Tupelo. The team has maintained its strong ties to local school teams, and hopes to further their ties to the Starkville community through their independence by offering more opportunities to travel and compete.
“It’s the same kids from Shockwave, but we wanted to have Starkville as part of our identity,” Hubley said. “This is our first annual fundraiser as Starkville Swim Team and we’re hoping to get the community behind us with donations.”
Starkville Swim Team currently has 45 swimmers on its roster, ranging from ages 6-17 years old. The team typically sends its athletes to 8-10 meets each year in addition to the students who compete through Starkville High School and Starkville Academy teams. The team features 11 swimmers who qualified for the state meet and brought home medals in the 2024-25 season.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 46 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
