MOUNTAIN PINE -- A.J. Navarro, a seventh-grade student at Lakeside Middle School, won the Garland County Spelling Bee for the second straight year Wednesday morning to qualify for the state spelling bee.
This year's competition lasted twice as many rounds as the 2014 county spelling bee. Eighth-grade students Ian Hollis and Gideon Drake, both of Lakeside High School, placed second and third.
"I was a lot more nervous because I have had to go against Ian Hollis and my sister, Aly Navarro, quite a lot," Navarro said. "I was very nervous about getting a word wrong."
Aly Navarro, a sixth-grader at Lakeside, placed fourth. A.J. and Aly are the children of Alex and Jenny Navarro.
"I think our kids are extremely well prepared for all academic competitions," said Lakeside sponsor Katie Disney. "They work really hard and a lot of them work hard on their own outside of what we do at school to prepare for these."
Only Lakeside spellers remained after the first seven rounds. Hollis misspelled "possessed" in the 11th round.
Navarro then aptly spelled "remainder." He clinched his second trip to the Arkansas State Spelling Bee on the championship word, "congeal." Navarro felt that his first trip to the state competition was a success.
"I was really proud because, before that, I think I only made it to the school spelling bee," Navarro said.
The state winner will move on to the 2015 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Bee Week 2015 will be held May 24-29.
Seven of the 16 contestants exited in the first round. No more than one speller was eliminated in any subsequent round.
The top seven spellers combined for a perfect fourth round. The 10th round was the only other perfect stage when only Navarro and Hollis remained.
Other spellers to make it to the fourth round were Sydney Green, seventh grade, Mountain Pine High School; Audrey Marvin, fourth grade, Lakeside Intermediate School; and Blake McLelland, fifth grade, Hot Springs Intermediate School. Green, Marvin and McLelland placed fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively. McLelland finished as the runner-up in 2014.
Lakeside saw two pairs of siblings compete on Wednesday. Hollis' younger brother Ben Hollis, a fourth-grade student, also participated.
"I am extremely proud of them because they all met their goals," Disney said. "That was exciting for all of them."
Jackson Keese, seventh grade, and Abby Leeder, eighth grade, represented Fountain Lake Middle School Cobra Digital Prep Academy. The Fountain Lake sponsor was Linda Webb.
Mountain Pine was also represented by Sadie Cagle, seventh grade. Leslie Collier served as the school's sponsor.
Additional participants from the Hot Springs School District were Hayley Mitchell, seventh grade; Shanice Mudasia, eighth grade; Danielle Rivera, third grade; Caleb Rush, fourth grade; and Krysta Wright, sixth grade. The district's sponsors were Becky Rosburg and Nancy Scott.
The spelling bee was held in the auditorium at Mountain Pine High School. Tony Anderson served as the moderator. He was joined at the judge's table by Marcy Kirkpatrick and Joyce Sabin.
Local on 01/29/2015