What seemed a perfect day for the Greek Olympics and a successful end to Greek Week last Saturday resulted in two accidents that left three students with minor injuries.

Two students sustained head injuries, and one student broke her hand during the activity.

The bed race, one of the longtime competitions of the Greek Olympics, features members of each team building a bed with wheels. Competitors then run two laps around sorority circle in order to get the fastest time.

In the race, four men push the bed for the first lap, while two women lie on the bed and steer the course. The race includes a trade-off after the first lap, in which four different men finish the race.

Justin Carleton, general co-chairman of Greek Week 1998 and senior in marketing, said the first accident occurred during preliminary competition as the team of Kappa Kappa Gamma, Pi Kappa Phi and Phi Delta Theta were conducting a switch.

“As they were trading off, one of the members of Pi Kappa Phi tripped and hit his head on the pavement,” Carleton said.

Kyle Morrissey, junior in marketing, was taken by ambulance to Mary Greeley Medical Center, where he later was diagnosed with a mild concussion.

Another accident occurred during the final competition, involving two women on the team of Alpha Delta Pi, Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Phi Epsilon.

Damon Zimmer, member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and sophomore in business, was pushing the bed when the accident occurred.

“There was a clean hand-off for the second lap, and everything was fine,” Zimmer said. “Then there was a loss in the steering, and the front tire jack-knifed to the right. The front [of the bed] dropped, and the back flipped up. Then the girls fell off.”

Katie Dencklau, member of Alpha Delta Pi sorority and sophomore in business, broke her right hand after falling off the bed, and her teammate Ellen Ourada, freshman in apparel merchandising, design and production, received a mild concussion.

Dencklau said she does not remember the details of the accident.

“It was no one’s fault, and we’re glad that the girls weren’t hurt to a greater extent,” Zimmer said.

Corey Walker, special events coordinator and junior in community and regional planning, said the accidents were a tragic end to a successful week.

Walker said the accidents were unfortunate, but getting the accident victims medical assistance quickly helped the situation.

Each member of Greek Week Central was equipped with a walkie-talkie during the week-long celebration so that communication lines were kept open. Walker said because of the communication devices the ambulance was able to arrive quickly.

Each team participating in the Greek Olympics were also given a book of rules and guidelines by the Greek Week Central. The bed race was no exception. Teams had to meet eight specifications and pass a bed inspection in order to compete.

Walker said this year one team didn’t pass inspection.

“Basically, the biggest thing was making sure the girls had helmets,” Walker said.

According to members of Beta Theta Pi, the women were wearing helmets when the accident occurred.

They added that they thought the helmets were helpful in preventing further injury.

“We always tried to be as safe as possible, especially with the bed inspections, and making girls wear helmets,” Carleton said.

“I don’t think we’ll probably have the bed race next year, but that will be up to next year’s general co-chairs,” she said.