How do you spell determination and persis-tence? It’s a safe bet that Lucas

Liner, an eighth-grader at Eastwood Middle School can.

Lucas Liner, 13, claimed victory at the Blade Northwest Ohio Championship Spelling Bee.

The win did not come on his first try, however. This was, in fact, Liner’s third attempt at claiming the honor. In sixth grade, Liner won the contest at the middle school level and went on to represent the district at the Wood County Spelling Bee. Last year, as a seventh grader, Liner was edged out of the competition by a fellow classmate.

After debating whether to enter the competition again, Liner decided to give it one last try.

Liner won the Bee with spelling the word “suasible.”

During the intermission of the Bee, Liner counted only 16 spellers left out of the 48. Liner made it through the rest of the Bee with words such as “algorithm” and “serendipity.”

Then only Carl Bachmayer, 15, of West Toledo and Liner remained on stage.

Although Liner  misspelled the word “paregoic,” he was given another chance by Bachmayer misspelling the word “debutante.” Liner just needed to spell the word “obreptitious” and did it correctly, leaving Bachmayer to spell the word “pugilant” which he missed with Liner winning the Bee.

Winning the Bee means that Liner will take a trip to Washington on June 2 to compete in the National Spelling Bee. Liner’s prize also includes a Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, a $100 savings bond, and a plaque.

For his p-e-r-s-i-s-t-e-n-c-e, spelling champ Lucas Liner will head to Washington, D.C. to compete in the National Spelling Bee June 2.
(Article and photos courtesy of the Eastwood school newspaper, The Eagle’s Eye, its staff and advisor Carol Wolfe).

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed