It took only one round to trim the more than two dozen participants down to five at the Jefferson County Spelling Bee Thursday night, February 23. By the end of round two, only two – both sixth graders – remained. With a list of words that had many parents exclaiming over the difficulty, the field was winnowed in a hurry. Left standing were Killian Humbert of Montana City and Isabella Morris of Clancy. Morris successfully handled toccata (“a musical composition for a keyboard instrument designed to exhibit the performer’s touch and technique”) and supererogation (“the act of performing more than is necessary to complete an undertaking”) before she was tripped up by croon (“to sing softly’). Humbert, who spelled “diary” in the round that left Morris behind, completed the bee with “tornado” to take the crown. Other participants in the bee included Charity Nieskens, Keara Hugulet, and Leo Scafani of White- hall; Bobby Jo Sutherlin, Emma McCauley, Clare Ronayne, Clara Lufkin, Adam Sim and Madison Leiva of Boulder; Ellie Goehring, Gavin Wood, Josiah Bibeau, Kylie Kenison, Dayton Mitzkus, Abram Williams, Colt Tietze and Morris of Clancy; Humbert, Kayley Denler, Jeri Wilkderson, Cristen Burke, Carter Kraft, Natalie Seburn, Kate- lyn Summers, Devin LaPierre, Corbin Luce and Lenny Triem of Montana City; and Dylan Alexander and Izzy Gasch of Basin.
