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Updated September 29, 2025, at 2:58 a.m.

While Harvard’s football team came out hunting for a win against Brown on Saturday, Harvard’s band was gunning for a different victory: a Guinness World Record.

The Harvard University Band unveiled their new 20-foot-long conductor’s baton during the pre-game show — surpassing the Brown University Band’s previous record by eight inches. Brown’s band claimed the record in May with a baton measuring 19-feet-4-inches.

The Harvard Band first broke the record twenty years ago, but has been fighting to get it back since bands from across the world built their own giant batons. The band’s internal affairs manager, Colleen B. Meosky ’28, said that Brown’s recording-breaking baton in May reignited the group’s hunger for victory.

“When Brown stole the record, we wanted it back immediately,” Meosky said.

The audience was equally confused and amused by the giant Baton, according to Meosky. While she said many of them may not have known the history of the baton record, she hoped the competitive nature of reclaiming the record would fire up the Crimson stands.

“Even if they didn’t know the full history of it, I think it was just enough to say, ‘Hey, Brown beat us last year at the football game, and they also took away our record for the largest baton — let’s go get it back,’” Meosky said.

The Brown University Band did not respond to a request for comment.

Harvard’s band was not the only group to leave the field with a win. Harvard’s football team claimed a 41-7 victory against the Brown Bears at the Crimson’s home opener for a crowd of thousands.

Jonathan R. Slohoda ’27, the Harvard Band’s drill master, thought Harvard’s annual competition against Brown provided the right arena to showcase the band’s work — and reclaim victory in all aspects of Saturday’s competition.

“I — in control of all the half signs, props, and anything to do with athletics — wanted to make sure that we took that record back this year at our home opener against Brown,” Slohoda said. “It’s the perfect time to do it.”

According to Slohoda, the baton was made with “fiberglass, cosplay foam, and plastic in the REEF Makerspace.”

Slohoda coordinated the baton’s construction, using a 20-foot fishing rod to ensure the baton was lightweight and flexible at just six pounds. Meowsky said the group worked on the project over the summer and finalized it just this past week.

Mei Fujimura ’27, the Harvard Band’s student conductor, used the baton to conduct a performance of “Gridiron King” by R.K. Fletcher ’08 for the audience.

Meosky said she was “extremely impressed” by Fujimura’s ability to conduct the band while wielding the baton, given Fujimura stands at just 5-feet-2-inches tall.

“She’s not the tallest student conductor we’ve had, and she made it work,” Meosky said. “It’s dedication.”

The Harvard Band does not yet possess the world record. According to Slohoda, they have only just begun the certification process to gain recognition. Slohoda said he hopes it can be recognized in the next “couple weeks or months.”

For Slohoda, the baton record is an important part of the band’s history. He hopes to continue to commemorate the new instrument alongside their older record-winning project.

“In our band room, we have that old 12-foot baton still hanging on the wall, so when we get back to the band room tonight, we’re gonna hang up this 20-foot one right above it,” Slohoda said.

Like Slohoda, Meosky felt a new sense of pride in the band following the baton’s unveiling. She wrote in a statement that the achievement made her feel like she was “on top of the world.”

“Brown and the rest of the Ivies wish they had a stick as big as ours,” Meosky wrote.

—Staff writer Alexander W. Anoma can be reached at alexander.anoma@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AnomaAlexander.

—Staff writer Chantel A. De Jesus can be reached at chantel.dejesus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @c_a_dejesus.