Becker repeats as spelling bee champ

Scott City Middle School fifth grader Kodi Rogers spells a word during the county bee on Tuesday. Other contestants in the background are (from left) Abbigail Prochnow, Brett Haire and Aly Tarrango.

Printer-friendly version

E-Mail this story

By Rod Haxton, editor

It was deja vu in the Scott County spelling bee.

Once again, the county championship turned into a showdown between Josh Becker and Lizzy Eikenberry - the two finalists from a year ago.

And, once again, it was Becker who emerged as the county champion with the correct spelling of “potential” on the contest’s 34th word.

The eighth grader was pretty low-key about winning back-to-back titles.

“I’ve never really been nervous,” he says.

Despite doing so well in the county spelling bee, Becker says he doesn’t study for the contest and “I don’t like to read.”

“I just picture the words in my head. It seems to come pretty easy,” says the 13-year-old, who wasn’t eliminated until the fifth round of last year’s state spelling bee.

It was another frustrating second place finish for Eikenberry who was eliminated when she misspelled “vertigo.”

“I was close last year so I thought I had a really good chance this time,” says the seventh grader. “I guess that’s why I was more nervous this year.”

While she doesn’t do a lot of preparation for the county bee, Eikenberry says she likes to read and will often study the harder words that she comes across to see how they are spelled.

As the runner-up, Eikenberry says there is one small consolation.

“I won’t have to worry about competing against Josh next year.”

However, Dexter Gooden expects to challenge for next year’s championship after finishing third this year. The sixth grader was in a three-way battle with the two finalists for two rounds before he was eliminated on “sophomore.”

“I’m going to win it next year,” he said with a grin.

Becker will be competing in the state spelling bee at Great Bend on March 17.