Led by veteran jumpers Erica Zenn and Mary Hunter Benton, who each won 16 medals, the Chapel Hill-based Bouncing Bulldogs Jump Rope Team collected 449 medals – 228 gold – at the World Jump Rope Championships held July 2-4 in Washington, D.C.
The Bulldogs took gold in the Team Show Small Group Junior Division and won silver in the Senior Division, with ProForm Airborne of Idaho Falls, Idaho, winning the Senior gold. In the Jump Rope Showcase Championship, the gold went to the Bulldogs’ Junior 14-and-younger team of Rebeccah Musson, Isabel Osborne, Reagan Roeber, Mia Stopa and Adam Weston.
The Bulldogs and about 325 jumpers from eight other nations – Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Hungary, India, Tanzania and the United Kingdom – were evaluated by judges for their tricks and skills using single and double-Dutch ropes. Competition was divided into Age Division (speed, freestyle and all-around), Grand World (speed and freestyle) and Group Team Show and Jump Rope Showcase categories.
Zenn and Benton, competing in the Senior (18-and-older) events, each won 10 gold, four silver and two bronze medals for the 110-member organization, which consists of male and female competitors from 33 schools and from ages 5 to 26. Zenn and Benton also were part of the silver-medal-winning 4x30 female single-rope speed relay team with Pasangi Perera and Lindsay Crater.
Among the other top individuals for the Bulldogs were Anna Reeb, ages 11-12, 12 golds, including single-rope speed championship; Rachel Hart, 12-younger, 10 gold, two silver, one bronze; Ragan Copeland, 12-younger, 10 gold, two silver and one bronze; Avery Myers, Novice jumper, 11 gold, two silver; Kenzie Ruston, 14-and-younger, 10 gold, one silver; Bella Davis, ages 11-12, 10 goal, one silver, one bronze; Shalini Stockmans, new Novice (10- younger), female single-rope speed gold, single-rope freestyle gold.
Read more in staff writer Elliott Warnock’s story in the Chapel Hill News.
Find complete World Championship results.
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