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Jennifer Whitaker and Matthew Christy will go word-to-word tonight in the Kosciusko County Spelling Bee finals.
Whitaker, of Edgewood Middle School, was the winner Saturday of the middle school bee, and Christy, HELPS Homeschoolers, won the elementary contest.
Saturday's spelling bees were held at Warsaw Community Public Library, with the middle school bee in the morning and the elementary spell-off in the afternoon.
Five middle-school spellers grappled with such words as "mentality," "eclipse," "parolee" and "tridental."
The first two to go out lost in the third round to "entangled" and "peekaboo." Round five claimed a third contestant on "bonanza," and the final two - Whitaker and Jeff Bryant, Lakeview Middle School - went four more rounds before Bryant faltered on "domino."
Whitaker spelled "domino" correctly, then successfully spelled "gorilla" to take the middle school title.
The afternoon's spelling bee for fifth- and sixth-graders included 21 students and lasted more than 10 rounds before Christy was declared the winner.
The elementary bee, which by round four included such words as "exonerate," "interrogatory," gingivitis" and "conquistador," was down to the final two contestants - Christy and Landon Hendrix, Akron - by the fifth round.
The winning word was "sedentary," which Hendrix misspelled and Christy spelled correctly. Christy then spelled "fisticuffs" to win the bee.
Judges for the middle school contest were DARE officers Ptl. Joe Hawn and Deputy Tim Sammons. For the afternoon bee, judges were retired Silver Lake Elementary principal Gene England and JoEllen Hogan, WCPL. Silver Lake Principal Dave McComb was this year's spelling bee coordinator.
Tonight's final contest will be at 7 p.m. in meeting room C at the library.
