St. Michael Catholic School teachers, who were sitting in the audience, knew they would be taking home the top awards when the last two contestants were both students from their school.
In the end, eighth grader Justin Sitjar correctly spelled “accommodate” after opponent Victoria Jennings misspelled the word. He then had to spell “blaspheme” correctly to win the contest. Jennings is in the seventh grade.
Both had misspelled “queue,” meaning “a line,” a few rounds before.
Sitjar and Jennings said they are good friends and were glad to be taking home the traveling trophy to St. Michael.
Third place went to J.J. Silvey, an eighth grader from Urey Middle School.
Lucy Battersby, also from St. Michael, was another of the final four.
The contestants and coordinator of the event, Brenda Baker, agreed that it is more difficult to spell words when on stage with spotlights and video cameras on them than it is while practicing at home.
Six contestants were eliminated in the first round after missing the words “rescue,” “thief,” “bonanza,” “gentle,” “vitamin” and “strife.”
Jan Chittum and Gary Calhoun served as judges.
Argos teacher Beth Cohagen, pronouncer for the event, said she spent most of the afternoon rehearsing the pronunciation of the words.
All 24 contestants were given a round of applause for winning at their respective schools to make it to the county contest.
Sitjar is the son of Julius and Tet Sitjar. Jennings is the daughter of Judith and Lloyd Jennings. Both families are from Rochester.