Mason among top in CAA Blood Challenge

Mason placed second in the 10th annual CAA Blood Challenge last month with a school record of 1,004 blood donations, beating out third place Drexel’s 909 donations and falling short of winner University of Delaware’s 1,086 gathered units.

It was Mason’s second consecutive year in the number two spot, and the first year in the program's 10 year history in which two participating schools exceeded 1,000 donors, according to a CAA press release.

Mason's turnout left Mason Athletics "ecstatic," despite not winning the competition, according to Nena Rogers, associate athletic director for student athlete affairs.

"We are so grateful that the Mason population and the local community really showed up and made the blood drive a success," Rogers said.  "Athletics would like to thank all of those people that came out and supported the blood drive."

Last year, Mason reached more than 800 donations through the challenge, according to promotional material.

This year's blood drive, which was held last month, gathered donations again for Inova Blood Donor Services, who also host other blood drives on campus throughout the year.

The Blood Challenge began as a competition between CAA schools, originating with the athletic directors as a way to promote friendly competition, while also benefitting a good cause, according to Rogers.

This year’s event was the most successful to date—achieving record donations for the ninth straight year.  Overall, participants gave more than 5,000 donations, resulting in 5,287 productive units of blood collected across the 12 CAA campuses. 

Since the program began in 2002, the Blood Challenge has collected 32,106 productive units of blood in the CAA region, according to the release.