Malta Middle Schooler Wins Phillips County Spelling Bee

Twenty-seven of the county's top spellers congregated at the school in Whitewater on Wednesday, February 9, for the Phillips County Spelling Bee.

The winner was Finn Witmer, a seventh-grader from Malta Middle School. The runner-up for the competition was Jake Brown, an eighth-grader from Saco.

It was down to the two of them after the seventh round. They seemed to be in sync, spelling two words correctly, or misspelling two words for a few rounds. Until the 13th round when Witmer spelled his word Sedentary correctly, giving him the win.

The spelling bee is held for grades five through eight. Each school holds its own spelling bee to figure out who goes to the county bee. This year's contestants came from Malta Elementary (fifth grade), Malta Middle School, Dodson, Saco, Whitewater, and two homeschoolers.

Mr. Witmer is a young man of few words. When asked about his preparation for the event, Finn said, "Nothing. I didn't practice."

He did admit to being very nervous when it came to his turn to spell.

When asked about the State Spelling Bee, he said, "I'm looking forward to that. I'm probably going to practice a little bit for that one."

This was Finn's second time to the County Spelling Bee. He made it as a fifth-grader two years ago, and said he will try again next year in his last year of eligibility.

The Montana State Spelling Bee will be held on Saturday, March 12, in Bozeman.

Some of the words that stumped contestants this year were munchkin, infirm, monopolize, Pinkerton, and whirlybird.