Time quickly ticks away for 'Thon dancers

Where did the time go?

Some dancers depended on the sun to tell time, some waited for visitors to slip and reveal the time, and others knew what hour it was (or thought they knew) by the smell of alcohol that entered the White Building after the bars let out.

"It's probably like 3 or 3:30," said Erin Strout, dancer for the Undergraduate Student Government Executive Branch. "I knew when the bars let out. There was a mad rush and I could smell the alcohol."

Strout was slightly ahead of schedule. It was 2:45 a.m., Saturday.

Fellow dancer Craig Lowenstein, dancing for Centre Halls Residence Association, knew it had to be late because the kids weren't on the floor anymore, he said.

"My guess is 2:45," said Lowenstein (sophomore-public relations and advertising). "It's tough without the kids. You just feed off their energy."

Some marathoners, like Joe Galan (junior-professional golf management), were waiting for mother nature to tell them what time it was.

"I'll know when the sun rises," said the dancer for Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, 200 E. Beaver Ave.

Jennifer Nulton (junior-communication disorders) wasn't depending on the rotation of the earth to tell her what time it was. She brought a watch, but she kept it under wraps.

"I really didn't care. There were times I thought it was earlier, but then I looked at my watch and it was later," said Nulton, who was dancing for Alpha Xi Delta sorority, 13 Wolf. "People slip all the time and tell you by mistake."

That's how Amanda Schnader (junior-music education) knew that it was 10:45 Saturday night.

"I'd rather have an idea," she said.

Nobody told Matthew Haase of Delta Upsilon fraternity, 229 Locust Lane, what time it was. He had an idea because, like Strout, he could smell the alcohol.

"It's about 11:30 or midnight," said Haase (junior-international politics). "You can sort of tell (the time) when all the drunk people come and go in the stands. . . you can smell it."

Lisa Buonacore (senior-advertising), representing the sponsors of dance marathon, said she had been guessing the time, and it turned out to be a half an hour later than she thought.

"Last year the first 24 hours went really fast and the second 24 went really slow," she said. "I don't know if I'm in a different mindset, but this year, the second 24 seem to be going faster. There are a lot more people in the stands Saturday and Sunday than Friday and Saturday."