The
Springhillian March 16, 2017
Volume 104 Issue 3 ∙ Ad Majorem Del Gloriam
“JUST CATCHING UP BEFORE WE SAW THE HEADLIGHTS COMING TOWARD US” Jack Culotta | Reporter
Isn’t it crazy that, in the blink of an eye and after being there for just five minutes, what was just a meeting spot became the scene of a crime? It was the safest place for friends to stand during a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans. They were all doing the right thing — staying together, staying around people, and staying on the neutral ground. They were behaving as if it was their 20th Mardi Gras in the Big Easy. For most of them, though, it was their first. It had just gotten dark outside. It was simply a meeting spot. Two different groups of friends from Spring Hill. Junior Rachel Marinaro and sophomores Mark Vache and Otto Candies met at a neutral spot on Orleans Avenue for the Mid-City parade with freshmen Julia Gielniak, Joseph Skrypkun, Chris Miramontes and Max Mattione. Of the seven, only Candies and
Marinaro had experienced the New Orleans Mardi Gras festivities before. As it always does around the Hill, word had gotten around that many fellow Badgers traveled to New Orleans for the Mardi Gras festivities. Gielniak explained that she was with Vache, a former Spring Hill student, along with sophomores Emily Booth, Martin Day and Rachel Marinaro before they linked up with the other group of Badgers on the parade grounds. At one point, Booth and Day walked away after Day developed a nose bleed. This random event ultimately spared Booth and Day from what happened next. In an incident that made national news, a man drove his truck into the crowd, resulting in the hospitalization of 28 parade-goers, including four from Spring Hill. “Since we had never been to Mardi Gras before, we made sure to stay together. We met up with the
other group and were just catching up for a few minutes before we saw the headlights coming toward us,” Gielniak said. Chris Miramontes from Dallas described the night before and the morning leading up to what he called “the scariest moment of his life.” He and Joe Skrypkun from Chicago stayed with their friend Alli Irving, a Dallas sophomore who attends Spring Hill and has a house in New Orleans. Miramontes’ parents attended Spring Hill and went to Mardi Gras while they were students at SHC, so they had encouraged him to attend the parades during spring break. Miramontes recalled that, on Friday when he got there, he went to a number of parades. He said, “I enjoyed the Uptown parades and had a lot of fun. I went to the parade on Saturday with Alli, Otto and Joe. We turned at the corner of Carrollton and walked around the dump
truck to meet up with some friends. It had just gotten dark when we met up with other Spring Hill people. We had been there for a total of five minutes before I found myself underneath the car.” According to reports, the car was driven by 25-year-old Nielsen Rizzuto, whose mugshot was blasted across the national media immediately following the crash. Miramontes was the only one who got a clear look at Rizzuto. He added, “I looked at him and he was really out of it. I saw the red jacket and what he was wearing, and he didn’t really know what was going on. I was really hurt, so it was just a quick glance, and I was more worried about getting myself and my friends out of there at the time.” Being the only one of the SHC group from New Orleans, Candies disregarded the pain that he felt from the impact in order to assist his friends and make sure everyone
was taken to the hospital. “When I turned around, all I saw were the headlights. The one thing I remember was being lifted up on one side of the neutral ground and landing on the other side. I looked over my shoulder and I was underneath the truck, so I stood up. My adrenaline was pumping so fast that I couldn’t feel any pain, so I took on the role to try to find everyone.” Records from the Endymion crash show that there were eight out-ofstate visitors who were injured, and seven of those eight people were Spring Hill College students. Candies faced a torn deltoid ligament in the left ankle and contusions in the right and left thighs. Miramontes suffered a deep tissue bone bruise in his right leg/knee, along with minor concussion and a head contusion. Skrypkun was released from the hospital earlier
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KICK BALLIN’ FOR KIDS
Kickballin’ for Kids was organized by Phi Mu Fraternity to raise money for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals. The event had over eight teams compete on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Sigma Chi Fraternity took home the final win in a tight championship game with the basketball team. According to Phi Mu’s Philanthropy Chair, Kaschia Benjamin, “the event was a great success for the kids!” | Photos: Christian Jordan