Ole Miss Rebel Man 5K and Swim Race Benefits Graduate Students

Ole Miss Campus Recreation held the thirteenth annual Rebel Man event on campus Sunday. However, this year’s race was a tad different due to Ole Miss’ seemingly never-ending construction projects.

“I actually prepped for the triathlon starting in October/November, but once we heard about all the construction on campus with All-American Drive being closed off for us we had to make some adjustments,” said Brian Veverka, Rebel Man Race Director.
Instead of sponsoring a triathlon, the cycling segment of the Rebel Man race had to be cut.
Participants first swam 400 yards in the Turner Center pool then hit the streets of the campus for a 5K run. The running portion started and finished near the entrance to the Pavilion parking garage on Hill Drive.
“It was fun. It was great. My favorite part was the swimming and then running was hard, but I’m really glad I did it. Overall, it was a good time,” said Ellen Klasing, an Ole Miss junior.
According to Veverka, a majority of the volunteers were graduate students, and all of the proceeds from the race go to support Campus Recreation graduate students.
“It gives us professional development money so we can go to conferences to better ourselves. So a lot of volunteers are graduate assistants, and they benefit from this race directly too,” said Veverka.
The Rebel Man Swim and 5K race received a generous donation from Rebel Well and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Mississippi estimated at $1,000.
Awards were also given out at the race in different age brackets for the top male and female finishers. “We had a few racers under 18. We had 19-to-24 was our most competitive division where we had our top times for male and female,” noted Veverka.
Ole Miss student and Campus Recreation employee Walker Burrow recorded the fastest overall time.
“We had 40 racers this year wh,ich is a great number because of the changes that we had, but we’re gonna look forward to have around 200 next year for the triathlon,” said Veverka.

This story was written by Wes Cooper, a student at the Meek School of Journalism and New Media. He can be reached at jwcooper@go.olemiss.edu.