Back in March the Walton school community mourned the death of Grace Bunke, a student and swimmer who fought osteosarcoma, an aggressive form of bone cancer. 
On Saturday, the renamed Amazing Grace Invitational will honor her memory and serve as a fundraiser for cancer research.
Since 2009 the Walton swimming program has held a cancer research fundraiser, initially in memory of Margaret Soulen Gilbert, a former swimmer and coach in the Atlanta area.
Now the name of the event has been changed to the Amazing Grace Invitational.
Bunke was 11 when she was diagnosed with cancer, and had many surgeries and a partial leg amputation. In order to get back into physical shape, she began to swim, and even was a member of the U.S. Paralympic team.
She later made the Walton swim team, but her cancer returned, and spread to both lungs. She died a day before her 15th birthday.
Saturday’s meet starts at 1:15 p.m. at the Cobb Aquatic Center (520 Fairground St., near the Cobb Civic Center) and the other teams competing are from Etowah, Hillgrove, Marietta, Kennesaw Mountain and North Springs high schools.
The fundraiser will benefit Swim Across America, and each school will have a bucket at the sign-in table for donations from those attending the meet.
“Race for Grace” T-shirts also will be sold, with partial proceeds going to Swim Across America and the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
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