CARLISLE, Pa. - Doing it for Tyler.
Inspired by a former teammate, the Dickinson lacrosse program beat out more than 360 schools in an April fundraising challenge nationwide.
"We were actually the top college for the month of April," said Dickinson lacrosse coach Dave Webster. "A little school like Dickinson and we went up against big universities. Our families, our alumni, everybody got involved and we won that challenge."
The Red Devils topped major Division I programs, like Duke and Villanova, with all the money raised going to the HEADstrong Foundation.
Established by former Hofstra lacrosse player Nick Collelouri who died from cancer in 2006, HEADstrong aims to help families dealing with the disease.
Collelouri's nickname was "Head," so he named his foundation HEADstrong.
Dickinson's involvement in HEADstrong carried an even deeper meaning this year, after learning that a former teammate, Tyler Lewellyn '17, is currently battling cancer.
"It really touched our team, so when we had a chance to get involved with HEADstrong, Tyler was certainly on our minds and continues to be," Coach Webster said. "He's an inspiration for all of us. We love Tyler, and we'll always be there for our teammate and working with him and his family to help them through this."
Senior attackman Tucker Carney agrees.
"Hearing about what he's going through and some of the words that he's had for us, it's been so inspirational," said Carney. "Just thinking about how lucky we are to have this opportunity to be out on the field every day while people like Tyler are going through that, it's just incredible."
Motivated by Tyler, the Red Devils raised nearly $9000, which is almost triple their original goal.
The Dickinson men's lacrosse team also had a very successful season on the field, winning their fourth Centennial Conference championship and advancing to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division III tournament.