Pitt gymnastics competition helps students “Think Pink”

More than 800 people filled the Fitzgerald Field House Friday night to support the Pitt… More than 800 people filled the Fitzgerald Field House Friday night to support the Pitt women’s gymnastics competition against three other universities and participate in the national effort to raise breast cancer awareness.

The gymnastics event, titled “Think Pink, Target the Cure,” was run by Pitt’s athletic department and aimed to get as many student organizations as possible to come dressed in pink, the nationally recognized color symbolizing breast cancer awareness.

The athletics department granted the organization with the most students $300 from the marketing budget, $150 of which will be donated to the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

The Komen Foundation funds research grants and treatment projects around the world and holds the Komen National Race for the Cure in Washington, D.C., each year. Carolyn Oblak, the event coordinator of the Komen Foundation, stood at a table prior to the start of the gymnastics competition and handed out numerous pamphlets, bracelets and breast cancer ribbons, and spoke to people passing by about the importance of early detection.

Oblak said the reward money from this event and other events in which the foundation participates primarily goes to screening and treatment programs which pay for mammograms and other methods of early detection.

“We like to do events like this because it reminds women to go get mammograms,” Oblak said, “but our single mission is to find a cure.”

According to the foundation’s Web site, www.komen.org, the estimated number of women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 is 178,480, and 40,910 people are predicted to die of the disease this year. This means that one out of every eight women is at high risk of developing breast cancer.

Although these statistics are alarming, they have dropped significantly by roughly 30,000 since 2006. This is an excellent sign for organizations like the Komen foundation which are dedicated to educating women about how to reduce risks and live long, healthy lives.

Four student organizations, Men’s Club Ultimate Frisbee, Kappa Delta, the Biomedical Engineering Society and UPTV, participated in the “Think Pink, Target the Cure” competition. The Men’s Club Ultimate Frisbee team won the $300 reward with 20 people dressed in pink. Sixteen students from Kappa Delta participated, 13 from the Biomedical Engineering Society and 12 from UPTV.

These students sat in the bleachers among hundreds of others to watch Pitt’s gymnasts compete against West Virginia University, University of Maryland and Michigan State. Pitt placed third in the competition behind WVU and MSU.

Clair Mateer, the marketing assistant for the Pitt Women’s Gymnastics team, said this is the first time the team has participated in an event with the goal of raising cancer awareness.

“There was an excellent turnout, there were more people than I expected,” Mateer said with excitement. “This will definitely happen again next year with the Komen Foundation.”

Mateer said her goal is to advertise the event more next year and hopefully increase the number of student organizations who participate and show support.