Malta Middle Schooler Wins Phillips County Spelling Bee

Twenty-seven of the county's top spellers congregated at the school in Whitewater on Wednesday, February 9, for the Phillips County Spelling Bee.

The winner was Finn Witmer, a seventh-grader from Malta Middle School. The runner-up for the competition was Jake Brown, an eighth-grader from Saco.

It was down to the two of them after the seventh round. They seemed to be in sync, spelling two words correctly, or misspelling two words for a few rounds. Until the 13th round when Witmer spelled his word Sedentary correctly, giving him the win.

The spelling bee is held for grades five through eight....