Mid-Atlantic Sport Stacking Championships

On Saturday, February 16th, during the WSSA Mid-Atlantic Sport Stacking Championships, held in Laurel, Delaware, Steven Purugganan showed he still has the right stuff, bringing world records back to the United States. While the Purugganan brothers and Maryland stacker Malcolm Richardson were the stars of the show, Saturday's tournament brought 254 contestants, from seven different states to compete including - Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts and Connecticut. One of the contestants, Jonathan Scannell, a 15-year-old from Griswold, Conn., took up the sport in August 2006 and sees himself nearing the top ranks.

Four world records were broken including the three Individual events (3-3-3, 3-6-3, and the Cycle), and Doubles (Cycle). Steven and Andrew Purruganan of Massachusetts not only broke, they shattered the world records in these events.

Garrett Lydic, a physical education teacher at North Laurel Elementary, directed Saturday's tournament. Lydic believes that sport stacking is an ideal sport for younger kids. "There's not a lot of sports that are appropriate for kids because they're not as well-developed at that age," Lydic said. "This is something that kids of all ages become amazing at and you don't have to be a great athlete to be successful at sport stacking."

Lydic says after exceeding all his expectations at the first ever Mid-Atlantic Regional Sports Stacking Championship, the tournament will continue as an annual competition in 2009.