Trojans compete in regional spelling bee in Luverne

Worthington District 518 students competed in the Southwest Minnesota Spelling Bee on Saturday in Luverne.

Intermediate School and WMS students that competed included: Grace Bu, DaLonnie Cummings and Ehna Htoo, fifth grade; and Julian Garcia, Isabella Poe and Arianna Romero, sixth grade. Other schools represented at the event were Luverne, Adrian and Hills-Beaver Creek. 

The competition began with a written round in which all 21 spellers competed. The top eight students advanced to the second round, which was the start of the oral rounds of spelling. Bu and Cummings each made it into the second round, during which students were sequestered in a room. They each came out one at a time to spell the following five words –- "cling," "highway," "stampede," "dysfunctional" and "translucent." The results of the first and second round were added together to determine the third-round candidates.

Cummings as well as Sophia Von Hultum of Adrian and Joss Johnson of Luverne advanced to the third and final round. Johnson ultimately took third place, Cummings second and Von Hultim first with the word "cooperate."

The team scores from the first and second rounds were added to determine the team winner. Luverne brought home the team trophy by four points over Worthington.