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Bryce Durgin and Holly Kolberg will face off tonight for the spelling bee championship of Kosciusko County.
Durgin, an eighth-grader at Edgewood Middle School, won the middle school bee Wednesday by correctly spelling "nonnecessity" and "proportionate."
Runner-up was Joshua Walls, eighth-grader at Whitko Middle School.
Wednesday's bee at Lakeview Middle School went three complete rounds before the first word, "affiliate," was misspelled in the fourth round, followed by "cuticle" and "hexagonal."
The fifth round lost two more spellers to "leotard" and "volatile."
Three contestants - Durgin, Walls and Justin Hodorek, of Lakeland Christian Academy - lasted until the eighth round, when Hodorek stumbled on "inadvertently," leaving Durgin and Walls to continue for another three rounds.
Durgin, son of Robert and Susan Durgin, was the countywide runner-up in 2000 when he was in fifth grade.
Walls is the son of Angie and David Walls.
Judges Wednesday were Mitch Gerig, Grace College student; Joe Lehmann, Grace College professor; and Dan Pacheco, retired teacher. Pronouncer was Dr. Paulette Sauders, Grace College professor.
Durgin will receive a $2,500 Richard R. Long Scholarship from the International Palace of Sports Inc. for winning the middle school spelling bee, and the winner of tonight's finals will receive an additional $2,500 scholarship.
The final countywide spelling bee will take place at 7 p.m. tonight at Lakeview Middle School.
