Stellar Spellers: Second year in county bee spells success for Ronan boy
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RONAN — One year ago, Ronan Middle School student Jacob Broughton was eliminated in the sixth round of the Lake County Spelling Bee when he misspelled “llama.” He finished in fourth place, just out of the trophies.
Fast forward to last month: Broughton won Ronan’s bee and qualified once again for the county contest. This time around, he made sure to dot his I’s and cross his T’s.
“He studied for hours and hours,” Broughton’s little sister said.
Broughton asked every question he could of pronouncer Marilynn Tanner, from word origins to definitions to alternative pronunciations, making sure he knew what word he was about to spell.
“The only one I had any kind of trouble with was ‘succotash,’” Broughton said.
His hard work paid off, and after 18 rounds — an unusually long bee, according to Tanner — the sixth-grader was the last student standing out of 41 competitors. He correctly spelled “sallow” and “prosaic” to win a spell-off with Polson sixth-grader Sierra Lilly-Garcia, who wound up in second place.
“It feels great,” Broughton said after accepting his championship trophy from Lake County superintendent of schools Gale Decker. “I was very nervous.”
Lake County’s top two spellers, Broughton and Lilly-Garcia, will travel to Billings to compete in the state spelling bee on March 26. There they’ll face 66 other spellers from around the state, if all the competitors show up, state bee director Linsay Duty said. The students will be spelling for a chance to attend the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in June.
The state champion wins a trip to the national bee, a dictionary, a $100 U.S. savings bond and a one-year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica online.
But on Thursday night, Broughton wasn’t worried about the state bee yet.
“I’m gonna take a couple days off — I just won the Lake County bee,” he said with a smile.
Then it’s back to studying, as he and Lilly-Garcia have less than two weeks to prepare for state. Lilly-Garcia, who was eliminated on “nirvana,” a word she wasn’t familiar with, said she plans to study “a lot of different words” and practice extensively.
Charlo sixth-grader Kane Shenyer will serve as an alternate for the state bee in case Broughton or Lilly-Garcia is unable to go. Shenyer and Ronan seventh-grader Shaelynn Miller tied for third place, and Shenyer won a spell-off against Miller to be the state alternate.
Results
(student’s name, school, round eliminated, word misspelled)
Faith Noland-Faroni, Ronan, 2, fiesta
Nick Durglo, St. Ignatius, 3, confetti
Alex Bertollt, Arlee, 1, daffodil
Shania Dubois, St. Ignatius, 2, gazelle
Bailee Delaurenti, Ronan, 1, mascot
Ryan Dresen, Ronan, 4, tamale
Chase Bocksnick, Ronan, 3, falsetto
Suvi Rova, Arlee, 3, physique
Teagan Gray, Ronan, 3, nightingale
Ashley Mock, Charlo, 4, foliate
Anya Smith, homeschool, 3, sequin
Hannah Hobbs, Polson, 1, temporal
Carson McDaniel, Polson, 3, excise
Connor Murphy, homeschool, 3, vibrato
Presley Learn, Dayton, 1, flotilla
Anna Young, Polson, 1, inferno
Cody Heffner, Dayton, 2, denim
Garrison Corcoran, Polson, 1, prairie
Britnee Salmon, MVCA, 4, matriarch
Haley Wilson, Arlee, 3, luau
Suzanah Clark, Charlo, 2, innate
Ethan Goss, St. Ignatius, 2, stucco
Emma Kinsey, Valley View, 1, foyer
Phebe Davis, MVCA, 2, futon
Molly McGreevey, St Ignatius, 1, guitar
Shealyn Whiting, Ronan, 4, gestapo
Sierra Lilly-Garcia, Polson, 18, nirvana
Brianna Harris, Ronan, 1, interrupt
Shaelynn Miller, Ronan, 5/14, matinee, sukiyaki, juggernaut, cafeteria, quesadilla, spaghetti
Kane Shenyer, Charlo, 5/14, aristocracy, prodigal, obstinate, junco, sayonara
Gabriel Doll, homeschool, 1, trauma
Jacob Broughton, Ronan, won in round 19
Nicholas Brown, Ronan, 1, alamo
Karis Dungan, Dayton, 1, protein
Ethan Blevins, Ronan, 1, forlorn
Calista Magpie, St. Ignatius, 1, geode
Alex Mausshardt, Polson, 3,mascara
Hannah Madsen, Polson, 4, clapboard
