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Smith takes spelling bee crown at BLMS

The top eight spellers from the Beaver Local Middle School Spelling Bee, which took place Wednesday at the Beaver Local Auditorium., include (from left) eighth-place Brady Smith, fourth-place Wyatt Crabtree, third-place Halen Warrick, champion Zach Smith, runner-up Olivia Keller, fifth-place Maggie Sell, sixth-place Jordan Palmer and seventh-place Shaylon Mackall. The top six advance to the Columbiana County Spelling Bee on March 5 in Lisbon. Brady Smith and Mackall will serve as alternates in the event any of the top six will be unable to compete. (Photo by Steve Rappach)

CALCUTTA — With six weeks remaining until the 58th annual Columbiana County Spelling Bee, Beaver Local Middle School found its participants Wednesday morning as the school’s spelling bee was held at Beaver Local Auditorium.

Six students in grades 5-8 qualified for the county bee, which will take place March 5 at Lisbon David Anderson High School.

Eighth grader Zach Smith outlasted 37 other spellers and became the school champion after correctly spelling “Icarus,” who, in Greek mythology, was the son of master carpenter Daedalus, known as the creator of the Labyrinth.

Smith correctly spelled 10 words during the bee, including “botany,” “sentries,” “daunted,” “precursor,” and “lyre,” which is an instrument.

“It was not very tough,” Smith said. “I studied my words a lot every night, so yeah it wasn’t that tough.”

Joining Smith at the county bee and serving as Beaver Local’s runner-up is seventh grader Olivia Keller.

She made it through nine correct spellings — among those were “bemused,” “bedraggled,” “avian” and “implacable” — before incorrectly spelling “tenaciously,” an adverb of tenacious meaning “not easily pulled apart” or “tending to adhere or cling especially to another substance.”

“It wasn’t that difficult,” Keller said. “I studied almost all of the words, it’s like I didn’t have time to study the last page with all the hard words on it.”

Also earning spots in the county bee were fifth grader Halen Warrick, who finished third; eighth grader Wyatt Crabtree, who finished fourth; and sixth graders Maggie Sell and Jordan Palmer, who finished fifth and sixth, respectively.

Fifth grader Shaylon Mackall and seventh grader Brady Smith finished seventh and eighth, respectively, and will serve as alternates in the event that any of the six BLMS qualifiers are unable to attend the March 5 contest.

Out of this year’s top six, Crabtree and Palmer will be making return appearances to the county bee.

Palmer competed last year while in the fifth grade, while Crabtree’s last appearance at the county competition was in 2015.

Crabtree mentioned from his last visit to the county event, he missed out on what he thought was an easy word, and said he looks to put more effort in this time around.

“Last time I went, I only studied a little bit, and I came in 14th place, and I went out on a really easy word, so I’m going to study a lot harder and a whole lot more,” Crabtree said.

Palmer mentioned her approach at preparing for the bee, but also mentioned she might try something different for this year.

“Normally I just put the words on index cards and then study like that,” Palmer said.

Ultimately, the goal for the students will be to win the county’s top prize — a trip to the 90th Scripps National Spelling Bee in the Washington, D.C. area in May.

“Study as hard as possible at every point,” Crabtree said, about how he’ll go about preparing.

Beaver Local Band Director Matt Newman served as bee coordinator, while his mother, Ruth Newman, continued her role as the bee pronunciator. Judging the competition were Middle School Principal Connie Shive, Anne Eisenhart and Debbie Diffenbaugh.

The Columbiana County Spelling Bee is co-sponsored by the Columbiana County Educational Service Center, The Review, the Morning Journal and the Salem News.

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