Northern Michigan University made the most of this morning’s “Rokerthon” segment on NBC’s Today show, setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest game of freeze tag with 634 student participants. The effort easily beat the previous record of 438.

Students were bused from campus housing to the Superior Dome beginning shortly before 5 a.m. to register, get their Rokerthon t-shirts and receive an identifiable team armband. A volunteer steward was assigned to each team of 50 to verify participation for the onsite Guinness World Record adjudicator.

Kelsey Potes and Emily Stulz of Marketing and Communications coordinated NMU’s participation in Rokerthon and served as primary liaisons with Today show producers in advance of and during the crew’s visit to Marquette.

“It feels surreal to break the world record,” Potes said shortly after the broadcast ended. “I’m so excited that the campus and Marquette area community pulled together to make this event what it was. And a huge thank you to everyone who woke up early to volunteer. We couldn’t have done it without them and their help was required to satisfy Guinness’ standards for the record.”

The students on the Superior Dome field had to play the game for 15 consecutive minutes to qualify for the record. Celebratory green and gold streamers flew through the air after they successfully completed the task, as Al Roker and the Guinness adjudicator presented NMU President Fritz Erickson with the world record certificate. 

Video is available at http://www.today.com/series/rokerthon/rokerthon-3-al-roker-brings-big-freeze-north-michigan-university-t109689