The Wood County Spelling Bee title was regained by the 2017 winner, while a multi-round tie breaker
filled out the final place.
Aaron Mejiritski, an eighth-grader at Bowling Green Middle School, who first won in 2017 and came in
second last year, finished first again.
The bee went 16 rounds and the championship word was “belay,” which Aaron correctly spelled. Its
definition: fix (a running rope) around a cleat, pin, rock, or other object, to secure it.
“This is my last rodeo,” Aaron said. “I remember my first year. My parents asked why I entered it and I
said ‘I didn’t know.’ I thought it would be fun. Now that this is my third year, I’m glad I did it in
sixth grade.”
He’s come up with a winning formula, which includes practice with his dad, for preparing for the bee.
“He says a word and I write it down and makes sure I’ve said it right. If we have a disagreement, we look
it up on Google and find the pronunciation there,” Aaron said.
Aaron’s mom, Kate Mejiritski, said her son always has his nose in a book.
“He reads a lot. That’s a definite recipe for success,” she said.
Aaron Bailey, spelling bee coordinator, said it was fun to watch the competition.
“I thought the bee ran extremely smoothly. It’s always interesting to have a tie-breaker round at the
end. I love it when we have contestants that have studied, who are ready to go. So it was a really fun
event,” he said.
The second-place winner was Lainee Partin, a seventh-grader from Northwood, with the deciding word being
“trawl.”
“I came last year, but I didn’t make it as far as I did this year. I really studied the words and I
focused and I was determined to make it farther than I did last year,” Lainee said.
She plans on competing again next year.
The top six advance to Northwest Ohio Regional Bee on March 16 at Owens Community College in Perrysburg.
Saturday’s bee was held at the Wood County Educational Service Center.
In third place was Shelby Janes, Bowling Green, followed by Eastwood’s Samantha Strauss and Aubrey
Johnson from Elmwood. The remaining slot was determined by a multiple round tie-breaker spell-off.
Spell-off contestants were Luke Armbruster of Elmwood, Olivia Newsome from Eastwood and Ruby Thomas of
Otsego. They each missed words in the fifth round, but only one could move on. They remained in the same
order they started in.
Luke was first with “clementine,” which he spelled correctly.
Olivia misspelled “galleria.”
Ruby misspelled “ramada.”
Luke had an opportunity to take the last slot.
The rules state, “If only one speller spells correctly in a round, a new one-word round begins and the
speller is given an opportunity to spell the next word on the list.”
He then misspelled “mirage,” restarting the regular order.
Luke correctly spelled “fresco.”
Olivia missed with “mantilla.”
Ruby missed with “discern.”
Luke had a second chance, with another one-word round, in which he correctly spelled “confetti.” He
secured the final position and moves on to the regional competition at Owens.
The winner of the regional contest will move on to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.