Thursday night was an average night on sorority row — cars zoomed by, the lake glistened in the moonlight and groups of zombies and ghosts ran down the street.
Runners paced themselves down sorority row in costume to honor a former UREC employee and raise money for the LSU UREC Employee Advisory Board.
The Greg Gibbens Ghost Chase honors Greg Gibbens, a former UREC employee who was paralyzed from the waist down but died several years ago.
“He was a very inspiring and accomplished employee; he wanted to be known as an athlete in a wheel chair instead of just a kid in a wheel chair,” said Nicole Brooks, Employee Advisory Board president.
When Gibbens was a UREC employee, he organized various runs on campus similar to the Ghost Chase. As a wheelchair athlete, Gibbens would tie a ghost to the back of his chair and lead the race, according to Scott Belanger, assistant director of marketing and communications for the UREC.
Belanger said this event has been held for at least 10 years, and it is always a costume contest and fun run.
Derek Miketinas, Employee Advisory Board event director, said they raised $1,600 last year. The money helps to aid the student development fund, which helps to finance student employees who want to further develop their professional careers.
The 94 runners began the 3k run at the Phi Mu house and participants were handed glow sticks at the Acacia house to signify they had reached the turn-around point.
In addition to rewarding the fastest runners, participants in costume were recognized as well.
Costume contest categories included scariest costume, funniest costume, most creative costume and best pet and owner duo.
Josh Williams, petroleum engineering senior, was dressed as a sorority girl and won the prize for most creative costume.
“It was a great opportunity to support great school spirit and have a good ‘ol time,” Williams said.
Lane Rispone, electrical engineering sophomore, was dressed from head to toe in a penguin suit. He said he heard about the race from a friend.
“It was a lot hotter than I expected and my stuffing came out,” Rispone said.
First place race winner Phil DiBenedetto, civil engineering freshman, said he signed up for the race at the last minute. He finished with a time of 10.06 minutes. DiBenedetto was dressed in a purple morphsuit.
“I bought the morphsuit for football games, but decided to put the use here,” DiBenedetto said.
After runners finished the race, they were treated to Smoothie King and jambalaya.
