Cadets earn Guinness World Record

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  • By 030112
U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  Cadets received official confirmation Monday from Guinness World Records that they broke the record for the largest dodgeball game ever played.

The entire Cadet Wing, around 4,000 cadets with 2,000 per side, attempted to beat the previous world record on May 18, 2011. The official count was 3,612 cadets participating, while other members of the Cadet Wing managed the carnage.

The previous record has been 2,136 people, set by the Rochester Institute of Technology on May 1, 2011.

But other schools have already taken aim at that dodgeball world record. In September of 2011, the University of California-Irvine fielded 4,488 students and broke the record, according to Guinness.

Still, the Air Force Academy held the Guinness World Record for a time, and the world record attempt started last spring as an idea from a freshman cadet. Then-Cadet 4th Class Preston Spaulding approached his Group Commander, then-Cadet 1st Class Christopher McCool and Group Air Officer Commanding .

"He (Spaulding) heard that another university had broken the record and knew that the Academy could do even better," said McCool, an event organizer. "We loved the idea and took it to the Commandant, who also loved it."

Cadet Spaulding accepted the official award Monday from the Commandant of Cadets, Brig. Gen. Richard Clark, at Monday's noon meal formation, before the entire Cadet Wing.

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