One Nation, Under God

Swell spelling in Saco

Stiles wins MMS Bee, looks to defend County B Championship title

Saco Spelling Bee - It came down to old versus new in Saco last week, at least in the ranks of middle and elementary schools.

Saco eighth grader and spelling bee veteran Jaycee Erickson and fifth grade Laynee Simpson, in her first ever contest, faced off as the last two students standing in the school's spelling bee last Tuesday in the multipurpose room. Family and friends in the audience watched on as the opening field of 14 students were whittled down to two after four rounds pitting the vet against the rookie. For the next 11 rounds, Erickson and Simpson traded correct spellings (and a couple of incorrect spellings) before Erickson landed the knock-out blow correctly spelling "gauze" and "coupon" on both ends of Simpson missing out on the word "campaign."

Erickson and Simpson will be joined by schoolmates Dylan Brown, Daeson Salveson, Jessa Erickson, who finished third through fifth, respectively, and alternates Marshall Caves and Teagan Erickson, at the County Spelling in Malta on February 6.

Erickson said she would put her first place spelling bee trophy with the basketball trophies she earned over the years and admitted that spelling in front of people is way more intense than shooting free throws before a crowd.

"I'd rather shoot free throws," she told the PCN.

Simpson said that of the dozen or so words she spelled correctly on the day, there were a few she wasn't too familiar with.

"I'd never even heard the word 'senile' before," she said.

Malta Middle School Spelling Bee - On Monday, January 22, over 100 students participated in the Malta Middle School Preliminary Spelling Bee. The top 12 finalists moved on to the final bee held on Tuesday, January 23.

After numerous rounds, Kanyon Stiles edged out Naylene Winkel to become the Malta Middle School Spelling Bee champion. Kanyon, the 2017 Phillips County Spelling Bee champion, is eagerly awaiting his chance to defend his title which will be held on Tuesday, February 6 at 1 p.m. in the Malta High School auditorium.

Whitewater Spelling Bee - Whitewater School held their preliminary spelling bee on Wednesday, January 24, and Hannah Hanley won the event for the second year in a row and will get the chance to improve on her second-place finish at last year's Phillips County Spelling be in Malta.

Ava Hanley took second at the Whitewater event followed by Kendall Scheffelmear who took third, fourth went to Kendra Cummings, fifth went to Paige Wasson and earning alternate spots at the County Bee were Shelbi LaBrie and Kora LaBrie.

Both Dodson School and Malta Elementary had not yet held their preliminary events at the time of this writing (Dodson's event will be held on Thursday, February 1 at 10 a.m. ahead of a 7th-hour Pep Rally as the school celebrates Spirit Week for Homecoming.)

 

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