ASHLAND — After eighteen rounds — the last six of which featured a spell-off between two students — Mary Hamilton was crowned winner of the 49th annual Ashland County Spelling Bee.
The eighth grader from St. Edward School correctly spelled “calligram” in round 17, followed by “nictitate” as the winning word in round 18.
Runner-up Solomon Prigozen, also a St. Edward student, misspelled “towhee” in round 17.
The pair came out on top of a pack of 22 students, each of whom had won or placed in spelling bees at their own respective schools. Tuesday’s spelling bee took place at the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center.
It took 11 rounds to collapse the field from 22 to the top two spellers. The bee — which lasted nearly two hours — featured students writing out words in the air or tapping on their legs as they attempted to spell them correctly.
Before Hamilton won the bee, she and Prigozen went back and forth misspelling words in rounds 12 through 15.
Hamilton spelled her word, “tappet,” correctly in round 15 and got to try for a win in round 16, but misspelled “syncope,” triggering the last round.
“At one point, I thought they were doing [the back and forth] on purpose,” said Caitlin Flint, St. Edward’s sponsor for the bee. “They spell together every day and I thought maybe they were trying to be nice, like, ‘stay in.'”
Hamilton, who placed second in the county bee last year, said she felt surprised but excited by her victory.
“I didn’t know most of the words in those last couple rounds, so I went slow and took my time,” Hamilton said.
Making a champion
Hamilton and Prigozen, though, are not strangers to testing their knowledge by spelling obscure words. They practiced for months in preparation for the bee, according to Flint, their sponsor.
Hamilton and Prigozen said Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays during their lunch, they met with a teacher who helped prep them. They also both spent time studying individually.
“I’m proud we were the last ones,” Hamilton said.
Flint agreed, saying both Hamilton and Prigozen love words and reading, so the spelling came to them naturally.
“I think their perseverance and dedication says it all,” Flint said.
Photos from the bee follow in the gallery below.
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