By Fink Densford

UK students had the chance to swim to help fight blindness Tuesday at Anchor Splash.

Organized by Delta Gamma sorority and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternity, the water-based event at the Lancaster Aquatic Center was put together to help support Delta Gamma’s Foundation research and aid for blindness, Lizzy Rivers, the vice president of the DG Foundation, said.

“I’m glad it’s been so successful; it’s been a lot of fun,” Rivers said.

Seth Fortenbery, the philanthropy chair of Phi Sigma Kappa, said the event is a swim meet with a twist.

The event was composed of five different aquatic events, including a belly flop contest, a relay race and synchronized swimming. Swimmers from 10 sororities and 13 fraternities participated, Rivers said.

“It’s something that Delta Gamma has been doing nationally for a long time,” Fortenberry said. “It’s quite a tradition at UK.”

Maggie Schwab, the director of Anchor Splash and an integrated strategic communication junor, said they had been planning and preparing for the event since January.

Rivers said that support for the only Greek swimming event on campus has been huge and people were excited to get involved after a year without it.

“We didn’t do it last year, so it was a bit of an experiment this year to get going,” Rivers said.

This was the first year that Phi Sigma Kappa has been involved, Fortenbery said.

“I like that it’s in a place that a lot of students may not know about or make use of,” Fortenberry said. “It’s not just the normal, run-of-the-mill outdoor event.”