Unprecedented: Two spellers outlast word list in 32-round Holmes County Spelling Bee
MONROE TOWNSHIP − In unprecedented fashion, the 2024 Holmes County Spelling Bee finished in a draw.
Hiland Middle School's Greta Mullet and Killbuck Elementary School's Ellie Schafer outlasted the rest of the field and the word lists of the judges to share the title of Holmes County Spelling Bee co-champions.
It took nine rounds to whittle the field from 20 spellers to two. And then, after another 20 rounds of words, it was determined if no winner emerged after another three rounds, Holmes County would have co-champions.
In the first round of the last three both contestants misspelled their first words, which were sansei and wanzel.
In the ensuing round Schafer stumbled over the spelling of pinata, and Mullet correctly spelled the word rincon.
That set her up for the championship, but she was unable to spell her final word, which was bonaci, setting up another final round, in which neither girl was correctly spelled their words, which were maoism and piolet, so the judges and sponsors declared the contest a tie.
"In my seven or eight years of putting on these Spelling Bees, I never had anything like this happen," said event coordinator Debbie Stoler of Tri-County Educational Service Center, which sponsored the bee. "We used all the words we had prepared for the exam."
Voracious readers make for good spellers
Mullet and Schafer credited their spelling skills to the fact they are voracious readers.
"Mostly, I read a lot of books," Mullet said. "Today I just finished one. I like to read pretty complex ones, mostly fantasy."
Schafer said she likes to read a lot, too.
"There's a certain series I really like: Warriors. In two words, it's awesome," Schafer said.
Schafer thanked her mother for working with her to help her with her spelling. She added she had a lot of fun, and is happy to be co-champion.
They were both happy to share the championship title.
Mullet said she wasn't nervous and she enjoyed being part of the competition.
Schafer is the first county Spelling Bee champion from Killbuck Elementary School, at least in recent history, according to Principal Brian Lash.
Judges Andrew Johnson and Dr. Doug Marrah commended all of the students who competed.
"They were all excellent spellers," Marrah said.
In the opening round, the first 19 contestants spelled their words correctly before the first misspelled word. Five contestants bowed out in the second round on words like calculator, maternity, forageable, puritan and premonition, but no one missed any words in the third round.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Spelling Bee: Ohio spellers exhaust word list to become co-champions
