Stiles crowned 2017 Spelling Bee Champ

Whitewater School hosted 20 of the top elementary and junior high spellers from area schools at the 40th Annual Phillips County Spelling Bee last Wednesday and Malta Middle School's Kanyon Stiles spelled "holocaust" correctly to win this year's crown.

"I was pretty I knew how to spell it," Stiles said after the event. "But I wasn't positive."

Stiles finished in fifth place at the MMS Spelling Bee earlier in February earning the final spot of five following a fifth place finish at his school's event. He said at the MMS Bee, he misspelled "orchestra" by leaving out the letter "a."

"I will never spell that word wrong again," he said after the County Bee.

2017 marked the second time in three years in which he has qualified for the County Spelling Bee as in 2015 he represented Malta Elementary School. Next year, as an eighth-grade student, Stiles will have a chance to defend his 2017 crown and become only the second person in the County Bee's 40-year history to win back to back titles (Debbie Phillips won two years in a row at the first and second County Spelling Bees as she represented Dodson in 1977 and 1978. Whitewater's Kirk Reichelt won the event two times as well, first in 1994 and then again in 1995.)

Dodson School, Malta Middle and Elementary, Whitewater and Saco each sent five contestants to the County Spelling Bee in Whitewater. The third round of the event started with eight students, but only one - Stiles - spelled their word correctly. Stiles was asked to sit in the back row of the chairs while the seven who spelled their third round incorrectly came back for another round to decide a second place winner.

"I was so happy because I was done and I wasn't nervous anymore," Stiles said of watching the final round after his victory. "It felt good to sit down and not worry."

Of the seven, fourth round contestants vying for second place, only Whitewater's Hannah Hanley got her word right as she spelled "ascetic" correctly. Hanley took first place at the Whitewater Spelling Bee on February 15, but in the day's event spelled "aperture" incorrectly before Stiles won the event.

"I had never heard that word before," she said. "I don't think I even got close."

Hanley said she didn't think she would do very well in the County Bee and if Stiles is unable to attend the State Spelling Bee that she would happily represent Phillips County in his place. Stiles said that he would "probably" go on to compete at the State Spelling Bee in Helena and his advisor and teacher, MMS's Shyla Clausen, confirmed that by "probably" Stiles meant "absolutely."