Swimming can be a leisurely activity or a competitive sport, but in the case of more than 50 current and former New England Small College Athletic Conference student-athletes and coaches, it was the way to earn thousands of dollars for a charitable cause this summer.

On July 15, student-athletes and coaches from swim teams from seven of the conference's Division III institutions dove in the water for an ocean-mile swim at Nantastket Beach in Hull, Mass., as a part of a fund-raising event sponsored by Swim Across America. The organization is in its 20th year of raising money for cancer research, and has donated $13.5 million during the last two decades to benefit research institutes and hospitals such as the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The group of NESCAC members raised a total of $40,000 for the event with participants from Trinity College, Hamilton College, Amherst College, Middlebury College, Tufts, Wesleyan and Williams College swimming in 63-degree water.

It was the second summer that Trinity swimmers were involved in the Swim Across America even, after the urging of senior Mike Lenihan, who has participated since high school. Last summer, the Bantams had seven representatives, and upped the number to 12 participants this year. Former U.S. Olympian and executive director of SAA, Janel Jorgensen, also rallied the league's teams with a presentation at this year's conference coaches' meeting.

"From that grew the idea to get more NESCAC to swim, and we ended up having seven teams involved and did some serious fundraising," said Trinity head coach Kristen Noone. "It was very successful."

Each individual swimmer spent three months prior to the event fundraising. Trinity topped last year's total with a sum of $15,000, while Hamilton swimmers contributed $14,000 in donations.

"Mike (Lenihan) gave us some direction about how to go about fundraising, and Swim Across America has some tips on their web site," said Noone. "We each wrote our own letters and personalized them, and the fact is that everyone is emotionally tied to this cause because everyone knows someone that has had cancer. There was a common bond."

The leading individual fundraiser was Hamilton sophomore Stefanie Capizzi, who raised $11,000 for the charity.

"The route that she took, which was pretty savvy, was to capitalize on corporate sponsorships and corporate matching funds," said Hamilton head coach T.J. Davis.

Davis knew the event was a positive experience for his swimmers, but he realized how important the cause was after being thanked in the dining hall by a campus co-worker whose daughter had died from cancer.

"I think a lot of us went into it not realizing the impact that we could or would make," said Davis. "I think we walked away with a sense that we could make a difference. The end result was really great."

Noone and Davis agree that their teams are on board for next year's Swim Across America event, and are hoping to expand interest to alumni in order to raise more money.

"This is going to be an annual event (for the NESCAC)," said Noone. "I'm sure we've gotten enough interest now. We're talking now about trying to gain some alumni interest from our different teams and grow it that way. We know there are a ton of alums in the Boston area from all of our schools."

"There are too many real positives to not do it," said Davis. "It's a great experience."