Richfield student strikes to win spelling bee

Published 8:20 pm Tuesday, February 12, 2019

After an intense spelling battle that lasted almost an hour, fifth-grade student Addy Carter of Richfield Elementary School emerged victorious Tuesday afternoon after correctly spelling the word “coiled.”

In an impressive tournament, the young wordsmiths, unperturbed, calmly spelled a spectacular number of impressive words that many college students would likely struggle with. The words included “pegasi,” “rivulets,” “munificent,” “noisome,” “cavil,” “recompense,” “metallurgy,” “impregnable,” “expiation,” “tetrarch” and “ichor,” to name a few.

The tournament lasted more than 25 rounds and ended shortly after Joseph Coley, a sixth-grader from West Stanly Middle School, misspelled “meniscus.”

The only other student remaining, Carter, confidently spelled “radish” and then “coiled” to win the Stanly County Schools Spelling Bee.

“I think that was the longest the spelling bee has ever gone,” said Anne McLendon, director of middle schools and interim principal at West Stanly High School.

Carter said it felt good to win and “pretty cool” to beat out the 14 other students, several of whom were older than her. She said she practiced really hard to prepare for the tournament.

Brynli Huneycutt, a fifth-grader at Locust Elementary School, finished in third place.

The 15 students all won their school’s respective spelling bees.

Besides the top three, competitors were eighth-grader Emma Donnally of Albemarle Middle School; fifth-grader Logan Lisk of Aquadale Elementary School; fifth-grader Bailey Motes of Badin Elementary School; fifth-grader Makayla Davis of Central Elementary School; fifth-grader Karrington Baldwin of East Albemarle Elementary School; fifth-grader Lois Chaney of Endy Elementary School; fifth-grader Brice Coley of Millingport Elementary School; eighth-grader Payne Roach of North Stanly Middle School; third-grader Sydney Edwards of Norwood Elementary School; sixth-grader Riley Armstrong of Oakboro Choice STEM School; eighth-grader Brooklyn Huggins of South Stanly Middle School; fourth-grader Kristal Avila of Stanfield Elementary School.

About Chris Miller

Chris Miller has been with the SNAP since January 2019. He is a graduate of NC State and received his Master's in Journalism from the University of Maryland. He previously wrote for the Capital News Service in Annapolis, where many of his stories on immigration and culture were published in national papers via the AP wire.

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