Lantern Reports 14,000 Mirror Lake Jumpers to Continue “Beat Xichigan Week” Tradition!

Mirror Lake jump draws 14K Ohio State fans

November 26, 2014 Amanda Etchison etchison.4@osu.edu

With GoPro cameras strapped to foreheads and shoes duct-taped to feet, approximately 14,000 Ohio State fans crowded into the Mirror Lake area for the annual Mirror Lake jump between Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.

About 14,000 people attended throughout the night, though “a maximum of 100 students were in the water at any given time,” Administration and Planning spokesman Dan Hedman said in an email. Preliminary numbers indicated there were four medical transports and five arrests for disorderly conduct at Tuesday’s jump.

Jumping in Mirror Lake the week before the OSU football game against Michigan is a fan tradition.

This year was the second year of increased regulation at the event. Like last year, students who attended — whether jumping or watching — were required to wear wristbands for admittance to the area, though people stationed at the entrances did not appear to be checking closely for those wristbands.

Fencing was placed around the lake area, with certain gates designated as entrances and exits.

This year, 13,499 wristbands had been distributed as of 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Hedman said.

On Monday, a student-organized event dubbed “Mirror Lake Monday” drew fans to jump in the lake one night ahead of the scheduled jump.

Although they found the fences and wristbands inconvenient, some students at Tuesday’s jump said they understood the increased regulation of the event.

“I can understand it from (a police patrol) standpoint, but it can be a little bit frustrating as well,” said Chelsea Ciambrone, a fifth-year in animal science who attended the Mirror Lake jump for the second time.

Blythe Worstell, a fifth-year in landscape architecture, said she thinks the regulations have impacted the sense of community at the event.

“I felt like when I was here my first year, it was a lot busier. And you could go everywhere around the lake … you (could) feel the camaraderie,” she said. “I think (the regulations have) taken it down a little bit, but I can understand why they are doing it.”

Despite the regulations, Worstell said she enjoyed participating in the jump for the first time this year.

“It was fun,” she said. “There were lots of people here and I like everyone singing and it was really fun.”

Check out their full recap with pictures and videos here:

http://tinyurl.com/ockolmb

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