A return champion emerged Wednesday from the Indian Lake Middle School library to take the top finish at the 2017 Logan County Spelling Bee hosted by the Midwest Regional Educational Service Center.
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GRANT LOTTS |
Bellefontaine seventh-grader Grant Lotts outlasted his competition over 12-plus rounds to repeat as the best countywide speller in grades five through eight.
Sam Fleming, an eighth-grade student from Riverside schools placed second in the event, which featured the top spellers from Bellefontaine, Benjamin Logan, Riverside and Indian Lake local schools.
Grant’s championship word, “interminableness” may also be applied to his reign a spelling bee finalist, which may seem unending as it stretches now to three years.
In addition to also winning the event last year as a sixth-grader, Grant placed second in the competition in 2015 as a fifth-grader.
“It feels great to win again,” Grant said between accepting congratulations from family and passersby. “It takes a lot of hard work to win. And a lot of studying. Mom studied with me every night, and we did a lot of rows every night. If I missed a word, we had to start over and do the whole row again.”
UPDATE:
Additional spelling bee runner-up announced
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SAM FLEMING |
TAYLOR MEES |
Officials from the Logan County Spelling Bee have reported that they had made an error in the runner-up position that was reported in Thursday’s paper.
“We had a tie for second place,” officials said.
Taylor Mees, a seventh-grader from Riverside, also went out in round 12, as did Sam Fleming of Riverside, who was given the lone runner-up trophy.
“In the excitement we awarded Sam the second place trophy because he was the last to sit down, when in fact he and Taylor both went out in round 12, so they should share the 2nd place status,” bee officials said.
HOME PAGE SLIDE SHOW PHOTO: Riverside eighth-grader Sam Fleming listens for his word to spell from Erica Baer, far right, with the Midwest Regional Educational Service Center, Wednesday during the Logan County Spelling Bee at Indian Lake Middle School. (EXAMINER PHOTO | NATE SMITH)
Read complete story in Thursday’s Examiner.
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