Uhrichsville speller wins Repository spelling bee, heads to Scripps event
JACKSON TWP. – Logan Cox of Claymont Junior High School in Tuscarawas County took the title Saturday in The Canton Repository's 78th Regional Final Spelling Bee.
Cox's victory came after eight rounds of spelling in about 2 1/2 hours at Kent State University at Stark's Conference Center. The victory gives Cox a trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Maryland, over Memorial Day week.
Cox's winning word in the eighth round was "pendulous."
Cox was calm and collected throughout the competition, and quietly contemplated the spelling of his final winning word. Pendulous, an adjective derived from Latin, means suspended so as to swing freely. It was not a word familiar to the winner, but he quickly and confidently spelled it correctly.
Cox will join more than 200 spellers in the 97th Scripps bee.
Placing second was Henry Dixon of Tuscarawas Valley Middle-High School. Dixon pulled ahead of Breanna Dillon of Jackson Memorial Middle School when he correctly spelled the word "trice" in a spelloff. Dillon took third.
Thirty-four students from Carroll, Holmes, Stark and Tuscarawas counties participated in Saturday's bee. They each won their school’s spelling bee to earn a place in the competition.
Judges for the spelling bee were Charita Goshay, columnist and reporter at The Canton Repository; and Dean Denise Seachrist of Kent State University at Stark. Dr. Stephen Neaderhiser, associate professor of English at Kent State University at Stark, served as pronouncer.
Joining spellers friends and family in the audience Saturday was 2023 Canton Repository Regional Final Spelling Bee champion Bryce Beckley. He took part in the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Also on hand Saturday, but in the competition, was 2022 Canton Repository Regional Final Spelling Bee champion Julianne Liliestedt. She was a competitor in the event, and was among the final six spellers before bowing out. Liliestedt attends Canton Country Day School in Plain Township.
As Saturday's rounds progressed, words increased in difficulty. As in the national bee event, spellers asked for words to be repeated, requested definitions and inquired about the words' origins.
One of the event's more amusing moments occurred when Karissa Endlich of St. Mary Elementary School in Massillon received her word from pronouncer Neaderhiser − UNIVERSITY. Seachrist alerted the assistant English professor that he should move to another word, because the KSU at Stark's seal was hanging on the front of his lectern, with university spelled out.
The laughter helped to relieve some of the tension spellers were feeling.
Logan Cox said he's excited to go on to the Scripps bee. His family, which sat throughout the competition and silently cheered him on, said Logan is much like he appeared in the bee − soft-spoken and quiet.
“We are so proud of him. He worked hard for this,” said Jeff Cox, Logan’s dad.
Logan Cox said he prepared for Saturday the old fashioned way. “By reading, mostly. I tried using an app but didn’t really like it,” he said.
Reach Bev at bshaffer@gannett.com or 330-580-8318.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Logan Cox of Claymont Junior High wins Repository spelling bee
