World Records Set in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa

Some pretty interesting world records have been set in our area states of Missouri, Illinois and Iowa.

In 2012 a new vertical skydiving record was set over the northern Illinois town of Ottawa, when 138 skydivers formed a snowflake pattern in the sky. After much planning the skydivers went up in six different airplanes and coordinated the impressive spectacle. Watch a video of the jump...

Highcrest Middle School in Wilmette, Illinois boasts a unique record as well. The sixth grade class at the school has a whopping 24 sets of twins in it! Most of the twins are fraternal with three sets of boy-boy twins, eleven sets of girl-girl twins and ten sets that are boy-girl. Two of the sets are identical twins, both of them are twin girls.

Interesting enough, the old record for the most twins in a single grade was 16, and that record belonged to Valley Southwoods High School in Des Moines, Iowa.

A record that does still stand in Iowa is at Iowa State University in Ames, where the worlds largest concrete gnome can be seen. The gnome is 15 feet tall and weighs in at 3,500 pounds.

Des Moines, Iowa is also the home of the worlds largest ever 'stop, drop and roll.' 1,519 people participated along with the Iowa State Fire Marshall in a drill at the 2011 Iowa State Fair.

In Missouri, the record for the longest marathon playing basketball between two teams occurred in St. Louis in 2012. The teams played for 112 hours and 13 second. The final score was 11,806 - 11,620 with a team from Joplin, Missouri beating a team from St. Louis.

Another fun record set in Missouri happened on Lake Lotawana when in 2011, a total of 1,555 people became the largest group on one body of water to float on foam noodles. The lake is located near Kansas City.