When it comes to cup stacking, Justyn Bongard of Burnsville is a 6-year-old possessed.

The Rahn Elementary first-grader collected a bronze medal in his age bracket at the 2008 World Sport Stacking Championships this month. He was among five Minnesotans who competed in the Denver tournament.

Sport stacking is a competition requiring participants to "up stack" then "down stack" a series of pyramids -- consisting of three, six or 10 cups -- as quickly as possible. There are individual, doubles and relay contests.

He discovered the activity about a year ago during his after-school program, Project K.I.D.S. Natalie Bartlet, the program's supervisor, said she bought the cups knowing they were popular, and Justyn has been practicing since.

"He took to it really quickly," she said. "When it's out there Justyn is always playing with it."

Now his mother, Theresa Bongard, has trouble getting him to leave after school, Bartlet said.

When Justyn became interested in sport stacking and excelled, his mom decided to buy him his first set. He got his first set of 12 plastic cups, which have holes in the bottom to allow air flow, last Christmas.

Now he has a collection of four sets, including his prized black cups with flame graphics at the top and bottom. However, Justyn has a more impressive collection. He's acquired a mass of trophies and medals in South Dakota state and world championship tournament appearances.

"It's pretty amazing. His gym teacher saw him doing it and saw how fast he was and sent a note home for the South Dakota tournament," his mother said. "It surprised me that such a thing even existed."

Justyn returned from his first tournament with a state record, three gold medals for individual events and a trophy for top team. Collecting his awards quickly became his favorite part of any tournament.

Later, Justyn broke his own state record for "the cycle" at the world championships. He stacked and disassembled a series of three, six and three cups, then two six-cup pyramids and, finally, a 10-cup pyramid in 14.54 seconds.

Justyn's abilities have given him a newfound celebrity status. He was featured on his school's "Rahn TV News," acknowledged at a school-wide "Character Counts Assembly" and underwent four interviews before he left for the world championships.

His teacher, Sue White, said the attention from his school or the media hasn't gone to his head.

"His biggest concern was that he couldn't go to gym that day," she said.

However, the publicity did rally his school behind him.

"The kids are all proud of him," Bartlet said. "They want him to win -- they've gotten behind him 100 percent."

Stacking has become a family affair for the Bongards. His mother loves the inexpensive hobby. Even Justyn's 15-year-old sister, Jaci, enjoys playing. But Justyn almost always beats her times.

Justyn says stacking can get tiresome at times, but he intends to keep competing. He has his sights set on another tournament at Burnsville High School in May.

Tom Moran is a University of Minnesota student reporter on assignment with the Star Tribune.