Cooma Monaro Express 6/3/12
A new Australian record for the longest game of basketball was set by Monaro High School on the weekend with 24 students playing a mammoth 32 consecutive hours.
The school had set the record in 2008 with 28 hours of consecutive play. The record was broken twice and was held by Hawkesbury District Basketball Association at 31.5 hours until Sunday afternoon when Monaro High School reclaimed the title.
MHS teacher Kari Ingram said everyone was extremely proud of all students.
“All staff involved are so proud of the students in achieving such a significant challenge. They played with great heart and school spirit from start to finish,” she said.
Mrs Ingram said it would not have been possible without the involvement of volunteers.
“We are lucky to have staff, students, parents and the community to be able to achieve this.”
She said she had heard no complaints from any of the students throughout the 32 hours.
Student Louisa Wall said she was exhausted and relieved when the final buzzer sounded and got through it with “lots of sugar and soft drink”.
Two teams of 12 players contested the 30 plus games of basketball and were made up of students who will be travelling to Fiji in April for an international tour. There were also student’s who participated in the marathon but aren’t traveling to Fiji.
With a one minute rest between games there was not much time for rest and the players were on constant rotation. They played through the night and brought along pillows and blankets and took turns at getting some sleep. A number of parents and friends gave up their time over the weekend to referee, score, cheer on the students and make sure they kept hydrated and were fed.
After finishing at 5.10pm on Sunday the students were quick to head home, have a shower and get some sleep.
As for attempting to break the record again any time soon, Mrs Ingram said it depended what the next record was going to be, but would consider it in the future.
The final score:
Two teams, white and blue, contested the games. White were overall winners with 2,237 points and 21 wins to blue which had 2,160 points and won 15 games.
Highest point scorer overall was Lauren Stewart with 452 points. Orion McKinnon-Campbell was highest scorer for the boys in the white team with 200 points. Kate Connelly scored 309 points for blue and Declan Tozer put 298 points on the board for blue.
The players:
White team:
Emma Gerrand, Lauren Stewart, Blayne Thomas, Carly Rixon, Louisa Wall, Orion McKinnon-Campbell, Blake Byrne, Kate Schofield, Oscar Schoon, Cameron Johnson, Taiha Singh and Hamish Toohey.
Blue team:
Caton Vracar, Shashank Bokil, Kate Connelly, Kara Hynes, Luke Bracher, Brooke Ardle, Declan Tozer, Georgie Clarke, Abby Schofield, Lauren Swain, Tim Wall and Cody Nash.
The final score:
Two teams, white and blue, contested the games. White were overall winners with 2,237 points and 21 wins to blue which had 2,160 points and won 15 games.
Highest point scorer overall was Lauren Stewart with 452 points. Orion McKinnon-Campbell was highest scorer for the boys in the white team with 200 points. Kate Connelly scored 309 points for blue and Declan Tozer put 298 points on the board for blue.
The players:
White team:
Emma Gerrand, Lauren Stewart, Blayne Thomas, Carly Rixon, Louisa Wall, Orion McKinnon-Campbell, Blake Byrne, Kate Schofield, Oscar Schoon, Cameron Johnson, Taiha Singh and Hamish Toohey.
Blue team:
Caton Vracar, Shashank Bokil, Kate Connelly, Kara Hynes, Luke Bracher, Brooke Ardle, Declan Tozer, Georgie Clarke, Abby Schofield, Lauren Swain, Tim Wall and Cody Nash.
