On an unseasonably cold and windy October night in 2022, childhood best friends Joel Barnett and Parker Lewis broke the Guinness World Record for the longest two-person Kan Jam shot on the Business Building lawn.

Barnett and Lewis, next-door neighbors in Pittsburgh, both enrolled at Penn State, joined the Ultimate Frisbee team, and found their homes within the organization.

Three years later, the two engaged in a larger conversation one day at practice about frisbee records. Only one existed, leaving Barnett and Lewis ample room to etch their names in the record books.

“It was something that just came up one day, and after the conversation, I actually looked into it,” Barnett said. “I knew Parker and I could do it, so then I started getting everything together.”

Despite assumptions about the difficulty of obtaining a Guinness World Record, the process was much more streamlined than expected. However, it still had its fair share of bumps along the way.

First, the pair had to find a space big enough to launch the attempt. At 42.49 meters, the best option was the IM Fields, but they couldn’t be rented out for individual use. All other public spaces were either too short, too curved, or too crowded. The lawn of the Business Building, after classes were over, though, fit the bill.

Then, they needed to get witnesses for the attempt. Barnett and Lewis’ friends from school, hometown buddies, and others formed their audience, checking the need for witnesses off the list.

The final, and hardest step, according to Barnett, was having an expert present to make sure all requirements were fully met. Was there an expert in frisbee? In Kan Jam? The result was a manhunt to find an engineering professor willing to help the two measure out the correct distance between the cans.

“I went to the office hours of the engineering advisors and just told them what we were doing and asked if they knew anyone who would be interested,” Barnett, a security and risk analysis major, said. “They told me Professor Naberezny would probably do this. I emailed him explaining, and he didn’t respond, so I just went to his office and asked him.”

Brian Naberezny, a civil engineering professor, agreed to write the official report needed and provided the surveying equipment. On the last Friday in October 2022, Barnett and Lewis, accompanied by Naberezny and their witnesses, set up on the Business Building lawn for a grueling multi-hour feat.

“We almost got it in the slot in the beginning, but then it wouldn’t have been a two-person attempt,” Lewis said. “If you don’t get the shot off early on, your chances of getting it decrease over time.”

After two or three hours, they inevitably made the shot to break the record, a whopping one meter further than the previous record. They celebrated their success and embraced while wearing THON merchandise.

Along with their love of frisbee, the two also have a strong appreciation for THON. Barnett, especially, boasts a Four Diamonds tattoo on his leg. 

“THON is kind of my thing,” Barnett said. “It’s an incredible thing on its own. We just wanted to prove that you can do cool stuff while supporting THON to raise more awareness.”

Their love of THON stemmed from their involvement in Ultimate Frisbee. Barnett had the opportunity to hold a THON chair and eventually danced, while Lewis similarly held a THON chair and visited with Barnett on the floor.

With a close relationship to their THON family, Barnett and Lewis have nothing but good memories surrounding those 46 hours. Though they each had their own experiences, an overarching feeling of support and togetherness is what made their time in the Bryce Jordan Center so impactful.

But at the end of the day, the best friends want their record to be broken. 

“I was waiting until we got the paper to really say anything, but now that we have it, go ahead and break it by a foot,” Barnett said. “My goal is that as soon as it gets warmer, everyone starts trying to break it.”