|
Sports stackers visit Laurel High
for regional event
By Daniel Richardson, Laurel Star
 For the second year in a row, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Sport
Stacking Championship was held at Laurel High School. Sport
stacking, formerly cup stacking, is a sport in which individuals
or relay teams are timed to see how fast they can stack and
break down cups in three different predetermined patterns known
as 3-3-3, 3-6-3 and the cycle. The event, held on Saturday, Jan.
24, features stackers from Massachusetts, Connecticut, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia. This year saw the
return of Steven Purugganan, an 11-year-old sport stacking world
record holder. Purugganan, of Massachusetts, holds the world
record in all three individual events, the 3-3-3, the 3-6-3 and
the cycle. This year's event, sponsored by Nemours Health and
Prevention Services with additional support from the Sussex
County Council, had 115 stackers from Laurel alone and around
200 overall. Physical Education Teacher at North Laurel
Elementary School Garrett Lydic, who introduced the sport to
students at the school and helped organize the event, was
pleased to see the amount of community support. Lydic said that
other event holders have told him that they wished they could
get one-tenth of the support. At last year's event, only
students from North Laurel Elementary participated. "We had 25
stackers from Dunbar this year," said Lydic.
The event, which is officially sanctioned by the World Sport
Stacking Association, is a chance for stackers who excel in all
areas of the game to attend the World Stacking Championship
being held this year in Denver on April 5 - 6. Last year, eight
stackers from Laurel participated in the World Championhip and
Lydic hopes to see that many go to this year's event. The
regional event in Laurel serves as a fund-raiser to help pay for
the cost of sending kids to the World Championship. "We want to
send eight (stackers) this year and we think we are very close
to having the funds. We may need additional community support,"
said Lydic. Lydic will be one of the coaches for team USA at the
World Stacking Championship this year and he is hopeful that
Laurel stacking superstar Foster Haynes will be able to attend
as a member of team USA. "I am pushing for him to go," said
Lydic, who expects to know within two weeks if he will be a part
of the team. Haynes, who has only been stacking since last
Thanksgiving, partnered with Purugganan at the event in Laurel
this year.
|
