The sound of plastic cups being slammed onto tables echo throughout a large room filled with determined cup stackers. Senior Sarah Raptis is taken aback by all of the competition gathered at the 2018 AAU Junior Olympic Games Sport Stacking Championships in Des Moines, Iowa. Little to everyone’s knowledge, Raptis would later take first place for the female cup stacking competition.  

“I was honestly in disbelief,” Raptis said. “I had never won the Junior Olympics before, nor had I really been that close to winning, so finding out I won was really shocking. I was also humbled to know that I got my first Junior Olympic win at the same venue that I had first made the national team, Team USA, four years ago.”

Raptis began her craft when she was 4 years old. Ever since then, she has consistently improved her skills with frequent practice.

“I was in the first grade in 2007 and whenever there was bad weather outside, we had inside recess in my teacher’s classroom,” Raptis said. “She had various games around the room, but her set of stacking cups particularly caught my eye. I would go over there and make these big towers out of them. I enjoyed stacking them so much that I asked my mom for a set and she went and got me one at Toys R Us.”

When she received her first stacking set that opened the gateway of her sports-stacking career. It wasn’t until Raptis was 11 when she first started competing on a professional level.

“Although I’ve been competing since 2011, I wasn’t truly a ‘world class’ stacker until around 2014, the same year I made Team USA,” Raptis said. “Last year I received a ton of rewards for placing in first and I have never been so happy.”

Even though Raptis has been on Team USA in the Junior Olympics for four years now, she has never placed first until this year’s competition. She has received praise from veteran cup stackers and from her friends who competed with her.

“Sarah needed no help from me on her improving her craft,” sophomore Jesse Horn said. “She practiced and practiced until she became one of the top female sport stackers. She was like how I was in the beginning, a bit shy, but I approached her over and over when she needed somebody with her to help out. Now, she is getting more comfortable competing on her own.”

Raptis met with Horn and college graduate Jennifer Griffith when she joined their cup stacking club the Cowtown Stackers in 2014. Ever since then, she has been developing new skills and they help her learn how to become a pro stacker.

“The biggest help for my craft has probably been Jesse Horn and Jennifer Griffith, the founders of the Cowtown Stackers club,” Raptis said. “I first found out about the club in 2014 from one of my stacking friends and main rivals in competition. From there, I started going to practices and for the first time, I actually had some coaches to help me get better.”

This year’s competition was the first major victory for Raptis when she won first place in the female division in the Junior Olympics. Raptis was ecstatic when she won and could hardly believe she finally made it to the top of her league.

“We were there to see her win the Junior Olympics,” Horn said. “We have competed in the Junior Olympics together for the past four years and to see her finally win first place was amazing. We were so proud and happy for her.”

Raptis now spends her time practicing for next year’s Junior Olympics cup stacking competition.

“I don’t compete at the Junior Olympics anymore, but I do help Sarah practice for her competitions,” Griffith said. “I still go to watch her and it is always good to see her succeed and I hope she continues to place first.”

With the help of her friends, she plans to continue the winning streak through next year. Raptis is determined to place first again next year and show her passion for the sport.

“I’m so grateful I won first place,” Raptis said. “I will continue to practice so that I can win first place again next year at the 2019 Junior Olympics in June.”