BUCYRUS — Luke Biederman wasn’t exactly fearless upon reaching the final round of spelling at the Crawford County Spelling Bee, but he wasn’t exactly nervous, either.
“I was mostly glad it was over,” Biederman said.
After fifteen rounds of spelling, the Colonel Crawford seventh grader correctly spelled the word “intrepid” to win the bee, flashing a shy smile of relief in response.
Biederman bested 29 other students from grades fourth through eighth to win. Students came from Colonel Crawford Local, Buckeye Central Local, Bucyrus City, Crestline Exempted Village, Galion City, St. Bernard and Wynford Local.
The first round of spelling claimed two contests, misspelling the words “scarecrow” and “bebop.” Rounds two, three and four were much more brutal, knocking out nine, eight and seven contestants respectively with words like “revanche,” “isochronous” and “portmanteau.”
Round five started with four contestants, and ended with only Biederman and Wynford fifth grader Drew Johnson left. Johnson misspelled the word “pittance” in round 14, clearing the path for Biederman to win.
“The words were getting easier, so I thought he might get it right,” Johnson said of his competitor. “I was thinking if one of us wins, we both get a prize anyway.”
Both Johnson and Biederman prepared for the bee by studying a list of words from the Scripps National Spelling Bee. However, neither were quite prepared for the difficult words that came at the beginning of the spell-off rounds.
“I kept asking for definitions because I wanted to know what the words were,” Biederman said.
Johnson had a different strategy when asking for definitions.
“I was just thinking of how I’d write it out and it gave me more time to think,” he said.
Johnson, Biederman and 10 of their fellow spellers will advance to the Tri-County Spelling Bee on Feb. 8 at the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center. The top 12 spellers from Crawford, Richland and Morrow Counties will participate.
For Biederman, whose favorite subject in school is math, he’ll be following one piece of advice.
“Going with your gut and what you think first,” he said.
