After a 14-word final round, Hunter Herron, an eighth-grader at Bristol Consolidated School, won the Lincoln County Spelling Bee at Jefferson Village School on Feb. 8.
She beat out 13 of the best middle school spellers from around the County, including runner-up Michaela Sprague from Jefferson Village School.
In the sixth round, only Herron and Sprague remained. The two struggled back and forth, correctly spelling words like “photosynthesis,” “anticoagulant” and “latitudinarian.” Herron won by correctly spelling “omniscient.”
Herron will go on to compete in the State Spelling Bee in Portland in March.
“I’m really excited, but I’m nervous about the State Bee,” Herron said.
To prepare for the County Bee, she said she practiced lists of words and plans to do similar preparation for the State Bee.
“She worked really hard, and it was wonderful to see her do so well,” said her mother Laurie Herron. “She puts 100 percent into a lot of things, and we’re proud of what she’s accomplished.”
At the State Bee, Herron will need to make sure she slows down her spelling. During the first few rounds of the County Bee, she blazed through her words so quickly that the judges had a hard time keeping up, making her repeat her spelling at one point.
“I was a little nervous,” Herron said.
She was also having a tough day, her mother said, as she was coming down with a cold.
“She competed in 6th grade also, so she knows what she needs to do,” Laurie Herron said.
