R.I. students dodge record with cross-equator game

Guinness refuses to accept their feat

It was perhaps the first interhemispheric bout of its kind - but the 10-second dodgeball game wasn't enough to gain Guinness Book of World Records fame.

The record-keeping authority has informed a group of Bryant University students that a dodgeball game they staged across the equator in Ecuador will not be accepted as a world record, participants said. Representatives did not specify a reason in an e-mail.

Five students played the game Jan. 12 during a trip to Latin America sponsored by the Rhode Island university, they said. They sent their assertion to Guinness in February.

Playing two on two, with one referee, the students pitted Northern hemisphere against Southern hemisphere, using the red-painted marker of the equator as the center line. In the end, the northerners came out victorious, 2-0.

Palmer native Bryan Wojtowicz, who played on the southern team, said he and his fellow dodgeballers were a little let down by the news. He said he believes that the bout was too spur-of-the-moment for Guinness. The London-based agency says on its website that it prefers that record attempts be approved ahead of time.

The 22-year-old, who will don a cap and gown on May 17, has no other plans to go for Guinness gold. "I think I'm going to focus on getting a full-time job," he said.