Technically you'd have to divide the 2300 by two. (1150 students pulling on a rope attached to an immovable wall exerts the same force on the rope as 1150 stud

Technically you'd have to divide the 2300 by two. (1150 students pulling on a rope attached to an immovable wall exerts the same force on the rope as 1150 students pulling in each direction.) Still, even at 11.2lb per student, it's obviously easily attainable. Edit: also not all the students were competing at once. Still, even with only a few hundred it'd be too close for comfort. For a safety-critical thing like this you want a healthy margin.