Raising awareness for missing IU student Jill Behrman, about 1,400 community residents and IU students woke up early Saturday morning to "Run for Jill" in the sixth annual Jill Behrman Run for the End Zone at the Mellencamp Pavilion. All proceeds go toward the Jill Behrman Leader Scholarship fund and the Jill Behrman fund. Behrman has been missing since May 31, 2000.\n"We are united against violence," said Director of IU Recreational Sports Kathryn Bayless, opening the event. "This is a family (the Behrman family) that inspires us … they are persevering to make something good out of a nightmare."\nA warm-up was led by Recreational Sports' professional Fitness/Wellness staff with the help of the Behrmans -- Jill's parents Eric and Marilyn Behrman, her brother Brian, a graduate of IU, and her grandfather. They saw the 5K runners off before starting the non-competitive 5K walk. \nPatrick Gross, a freshman, won the 5K run in a time of 15:29.\n"It was a very nice day — the weather was great," said Eric Behrman after completing his 3.1 miles. "It's been a great day with the community."\nNew to the event this year was the competition between teams in six divisions of community and business, residence halls, community schools, greek teams and other campus teams. Brian Behrman's fraternity, Delta Upsilon, ran and walked. The entire house, including pledges -- a total of 70 participants -- created the largest team in the event. \n"It's really good to see the community pull together like this," Delta Upsilon senior Mark Ruddy said.\nThe School of Public and Environmental Affairs also had a large team of 39 members. As part of Students Taking Active Rolls Today, a community service group within SPEA, graduate student Helena Miller was the persuasive voice that formed the large team. \n"We are a group of people that want to give to others," Miller said. "Plus, we wanted to win (the largest team award)."\nOther participants included Ladies First, who sang the national anthem and also took part in the 5K walk.\nOther participants, like Jeong Soon Choi, an international law school student from South Korea, said they ran for the sake of humanity. \n"We should take care of each other," Choi said.\nThe day concluded with door prizes and a small auction. \n"It's so amazing to see so many people," Marilyn Behrman reflected. "I can't believe so many students rolled out of bed this morning. I'm amazed at the number of people who helped put on the event and how much time they put into it. Jill would be really surprised at the amount of support."
Click for additional information:\n "Jill Behrman Run for the EndZon"
