Sunday afternoon, 825 sleep-deprived UF students lined up to thrust their hips and flail their arms one last time. As they were shaking in unison to a choreographed line dance on the Stephen C. O’Connell Center floor, Gator basketball star Will Yeguete lifted toddlers to help them dunk in a lone basketball hoop in the corner, and 6-year-old Zander Wyant threw a beach ball around with a few Dance Marathon staff members.
Zander and his father, Chris Wyant, shaved “DM” and “UF” into their heads for this year’s event.
In 2006, Zander was born in Tallahassee with a heart condition and was flown to Shands Hospital for Children at UF just hours later.
He is one of the 50 Miracle Children who represented Shands Hospital for Children at UF, Gainesville’s local Children’s Miracle Network hospital, at UF’s 19th annual Dance Marathon, which raised a record-breaking $1,169,722.16.
“We don’t set fundraising goals,” said Nicole Martinez, a 21-year-old advertising junior and head of the public relations team for this year’s UF Dance Marathon. “Even if we were to raise one more dollar than last year, we would be ecstatic. It’s all for the kids.”
Last year’s event raised about $886,000 for pediatric research and equipment for Shands — 87 percent of which was raised through individual donations.
The dancers at the 26.2-hour event spent the past year soliciting donations from friends, family members and generous strangers. Jittery and anxious, they gathered at the O’Connell Center on Saturday morning ready to stand for more than a day.
Participants were taught a line dance at the beginning of the event, which they performed every hour to show support for children at Shands.
UF marketing freshman and novice dancer Nakisa Behi, 19, was in high spirits Saturday afternoon.
“Yeah, 26.2 hours is a long time,” she said, “but I didn’t realize how excited the kids got, and that made me even more excited to start dancing.”
Behi wasn’t the only one showing off her dance moves at the event.
“For me, what was special was the [Miracle Children’s] talent show,” Zander said. “I danced a lot.”
Chris Wyant and his wife, Krissy Wyant, said their son has more friends in college than in kindergarten, and he looks forward to seeing them at Dance Marathon every year.
“Last year after the event, we’re in the car, and he asks us, ‘We’re coming back next weekend, right?’ and that solidifies it,” Chris Wyant said. “They mean so much to him.”
Eight hundred and twenty-five dancers celebrate the $1,169,722.16 raised for the Children’s Miracle Network through Dance Marathon after dancing for 26.2 hours in the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.
