Ohio State Ends Annual Lake Jumping Tradition After Student Dies

SteveHolt10 years ago

Ohio State announced this past week it will move to end the annual Mirror Lake lake-jumping tradition after a student died during the event this year.

The tradition of jumping into Mirror Lake dates back multiple decades, and takes place on the Tuesday before the Michigan-Ohio State game.

From WKYC:

Ohio State University says it will move to end an annual lake jump after a student experienced a fatal medical emergency while participating in the campus tradition.

Late Wednesday, Ohio State identified the man as third-year student Austin Singletary of Dayton.

The event has been held every year before the football game against Michigan.

An Ohio State University statement Wednesday said the tragedy occurred despite efforts to make it safer.

The statement said university leaders agree they will work with the campus community to end the student-led event.

School officials earlier said a man had been pulled from Mirror Lake early Wednesday morning.

OSU President Michael Drake said in a statement that the man was later identified as a student and his family was being contacted.

Columbus police had said the man had a cardiac emergency.

He died later Wednesday at a hospital.

If you haven’t seen it before, here is a video from the 2014 lake jump.

While I admit the tradition sounds fun, this is probably the right call. Even though OSU has always discouraged students to participate, its efforts to make the event safe just might not be enough to keep it around. A few years back, a student was paralyzed after he jumped into the lake. There are numerous OSU students hospitalized every year after jumping into the lake — which has been described as a “vile and disgusting pond.”

Many traditions are worth fighting for, unfortunately, but I’m not sure this is one of them. Thoughts and prayers with the family of Austin Singletary. What a tragic way to go for such a young guy..

[via WKYC]

Image via YouTube