Swimming For A Cause: DHS Girls Swim Coach Leads The Way

DARIEN, CT — Hundreds of swimmers and divers will plunge into the Long Island Sound on June 24 for the 17th annual Swim Across America Fairfield County open swim event.

Around 30 of the participants will represent the Darien High School Blue Wave swimming & diving team, who will swim in honor of family and friends who have battled cancer.

Swimmers and divers alike can swim a half-mile, a mile-and-a-half or three miles. Funds raised by Swim Across America Fairfield County go directly to support scientific cancer gene therapy grants administered by the Alliance for Cancer Gene Therapy.

Swim Across America Fairfield County has specifically raised $5 million over the past 16 years.

Leading the way for the Blue Wave team will be DHS girls head swimming/diving coach Marj Trifone, who is participating in the event for a 10th year.

Trifone was inspired to get involved with Swim Across America Fairfield County because her mother was a cancer survivor. She was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and underwent an experimental bone marrow transplant in 1988 at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. She went on to live 21 more years.

"I kind of got involved in it because of her, and also because I have this great venue in that I coach all of these kids every year," Trifone said. "We can use our sport in a really positive way, other than competing."

This year will be the largest team assembled for the Blue Wave, Trifone said, and it's made up of past, present and future DHS Blue Wave swimmers and divers.

Trifone's son, Christian, who is a U.S. Marine, is coming up from North Carolina to participate.

The group has already raised $10,000, and was recently given a $5,000 donation from an anonymous donor, Trifone said.

"The event is so well-run and very inspiring. I think [our swimmers] are going to walk away feeling very good knowing they were able to contribute to something so important," Trifone said, noting that the event is also a great team bonding experience.

Swim Across America was founded in 1987 by Darien resident Matt Vossler. Since then, the nonprofit organization has raised more than $100 million to fight cancer.

Today, more than 24 communities hold open water swims and hundreds of charity pool swims each year, from Nantucket to under the Golden Gate Bridge, which support innovative cancer research, detection and patient programs.