Eight Great: The Longest Games in College

Yesterday, baseball fans around the country sat through, and struggled to stay awake during, the longest All-Star Game in Major League Baseball history. Fifteen innings later, the American League emerged victorious once again.

This feat of endurance and extreme lengthiness got us at OTR thinking about other utterly-too-long records. As a result, here is a list of the Eight Great Longest Games in College:

1. After seven overtimes, Arkansas beat Kentucky 71-63 in Nov. 2003 in the longest NCAA football game ever. Arkansas must have some stamina - they also won a seven overtime game in 2001 against Ole Miss.

2. In June 2007, California-Irvine toppled Cal State Fullerton in the 13th inning, ending the longest game in College World Series history. The game lasted an impressive five hours and 40 minutes.

3. In a game almost twice as long as a normal hockey game, Yale defeated Union 3-2 in March 2006. The longest game in NCAA men's hockey took a total of six hours and 10 minutes to play including intermissions.

4. The UNC Tar Heels sunk the Navy's battleship in the longest game in college lacrosse history in March 2002. The game ended after six overtime periods with a score of 11-10.

5. December 1982, in the longest college soccer playoff match, Indiana University ended up on top in a game against Duke. IU's Gregg Thompson scored at the 159:16 mark, carrying his team to victory.

6. Rivals Duke and North Carolina came together in Jan. 2006 to play the world's longest continuous game of basketball, raising money for the Hoop Dreams Basketball Academy. Duke won 3,688-3,444 after 58 straight hours of play.

7. After months of planning, students at Beloit College in Wisconsin broke the record for the longest continual game of Ultimate Frisbee. The crazy kids played for 72 hours in rain, wind and hail.

8. In more offbeat news and not technically a game, gymnast Aratak Grigoyan made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest roman rings hanging duration at Yerevan State Physical Culture University in Armenia. On April 25, 2003 the super strong Grigoyan held a technically correct cross position for 22.9 seconds.