ASHLAND — Ashland county’s finest middle school spellers competed in the annual Ashland County Spelling Bee on Tuesday, resulting in two champions and two runners-up.
In the sixth grade category, Jacob Snay of St. Edward School took home the trophy, while Anna Grissinger from Ashland Middle School came in second.
Snay studied spelling for a few minutes every day to prepare for Tuesday, and he was “shocked and excited” to win the bee, he said.
“This is my first trophy also, so it’s kind of special,” he said.
In the seventh and eight grade category, Adam Carroll, an eighth grader from Loudonville, came in first, while seventh grader Mary Hamilton from St. Edward School came in second.
This was Carroll’s second win at the Ashland County Spelling Bee after he won in 2021 when he was in sixth grade. As for last year’s spelling bee, he still remembers the word he got wrong.
“I spelled the wrong ‘ate’ because I didn’t wait for the teacher to finish,” he said.
The bee was hosted by the Tri-County Educational Service Center, and its staff served as the judges, the pronouncer, and the master of ceremonies for the event.
The competition was divided into 10 rounds, with eight rounds dedicated to pure spelling and two for vocabulary, where students were asked to choose the correct definition of a word.
Students took turns spelling words and providing definitions and when one was incorrect, a judge rang a bell to let them know they were out. But if every competitor got a word wrong in a round, they would all continue onto the next.
In order for a student to win, they had to get a word right in a round where every other remaining competitor got them wrong and then they had to spell or define one additional word to cement their victory.
The spelling bee started with words like ‘grimy’ or ‘garlic’ and the difficulty increased from there. By the final rounds, the remaining competitors were asked to spell words like ‘grotesqueness’ and ‘vespertine.’
A full list of the competitors from Tuesday’s bee is available below.
Sixth grade
- Macklin Ross, Mapleton Middle School
- Bella Briggs, Ashland Middle School
- Jacob Snay, St. Edward School
- Owen Baker, C.E. Budd Elementary School
- William Lewellen, Hillsdale Middle School
- Anna Grissinger, Ashland Middle School
- Maddy Runals, Mapleton Middle School
- Shelby Garman, C.E. Budd Elementary School
- Toby Owens, Ashland Christian School
Seventh and eighth grade
- Amelia Ashley, Mapleton Middle School
- Istvan (Steve) Szijarto, Ashland Christian School
- Mary Hamilton, St. Edward School
- Rebecca Tucker, Hillsdale Middle School
- Adam Carroll, Loudonville High School
- Hayden Parsons, Hillsdale Middle School
- Tyler Hartzler, Mapleton Middle School
