Joel Gollehon made the proper diagnosis of the trauma to win the 2014 Wood County Spelling Bee Saturday
morning.
“Trauma”
was the championship word, after correctly spelling “diagnosis” in the
previous round of the bee for the eighth grader at Lake Middle School.
Joel
was nearly eliminated previously when he misspelled “innate.” Runner-up
Carolyn Schutte of Indian Hills Elementary gave him a second chance
when she stumbled on the potential championship word, “temporal.”
According
to the rules, when it is down to the final two competitors, to be
crowned champion one must spell their word correctly in the round when
the other speller is wrong. Then, to win, they must then spell one more
word in the championship round.
After Joel’s error, Carolyn, who is
in sixth grade handled “lariat,” but erred with the vowels in temporal.
In the next round, she missed “stipple” allowing Joel to win with
“trauma.”
Tesla Bias of Eagle Point Elementary School finished third in the event after she exited on “layette” in
the sixth round.
Three
others who made it to the top six will join the top three in advancing
to the regional championship to be held at Owens Community College on
March 8.
Those other advancers (with their misspelled word) are
Alyssa Hoodlebrink, Eastwood Middle School (belladonna); Carlin Pendell,
St. Aloysius Catholic School (gardenia); and Allison Pisula, Woodland
Elementary (igneous).
(Story will be updated.)