Three West Chester teenagers returned from Romania in July with seven gold medals and a bronze after competing at the 14th WUKF World Karate Championships in Cluj-Napoca.

Ruby Culligan, 13, won three gold medals. Caleb Gossard, 13, took two golds. Ishan Reddy, 17, earned two golds and a bronze. All three train at Buckner Martial Arts on Highland Pointe Drive in West Chester Township.

"It feels amazing knowing that you're the best in the world," Culligan told WCPO on Friday, Aug. 14.

The eight-medal haul came against international competition. The three were part of a five-athlete Buckner contingent on a 171-athlete Team USA roster at the tournament. Jamie Green and Abbie Kasberg also made the trip. The athletes competed in kata, kobudo and kumite events, though individual event breakdowns for each medal were not specified.

For Culligan, the performance was a repeat of last year. She won three gold medals at the 2025 World Karate Championships as well, making her a back-to-back world champion at 13. She started training at Buckner when she was 5 years old.

The preparation was grueling. All three athletes trained five to six days a week, two to three hours per session, in the months leading up to the competition, according to a Local 12 preview that aired before the team departed.

Gossard, a double gold medalist at 13, said the titles have changed how opponents approach him. He told WCPO that since winning, he feels like the one being hunted, with every competitor now focused on beating him.

Chief instructor Stephanie Buckner runs the dojo, which was established in 1972 and teaches Shito-Ryu karate. Over the past three decades, Buckner Martial Arts has sent 50 athletes to represent Team USA in international competition. The school also operates locations in Monroe and at the Lakota YMCA in Liberty Township.

No next competition date has been announced for the three athletes, but with school starting and gold medals already on the wall, Gossard summed up the tension to WCPO: "Come on, I just won two gold medals, and I have to go back to school already."