It was a battle down to the final punch. There was one jab after another. For more than 10 rounds, Erin Diffley and Chelsey Maus fought for the District Spelling Bee 2007 title. One speller would seem to gain the advantage, but the other speller would not stay down for the count. Finally, Maus was backed into the ropes. Spelling correctly the word kremlin, Diffley was pronounced the winner. Twenty students, representing classrooms in grades five-eight participated in the annual spelldown held on Wednesday, Feb. 7. The afterschool competition was held in the high school cafetorium. Family and friends watched as students successfully, or sometimes not successfully, tackled an array of words from the Scripps 2007 Spell It! list. Fifth grader Erin Diffley will now advance to the Resource Training and Solutions’ Regional Spelling Bee on Feb. 27 at St. John’s University in Collegeville. Four regional winners will advance to the Minnesota Multi-Regional State Spelling Bee on Thursday, March 22. The state winner will advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Runner-up Chelsey Maus will serve as an alternate to the regional bee in the event Erin Diffley is unable to attend. Other bee participants were Shelby Schiefelbein, Devon Kelley, Karlee Beehler, Austin Roerick, Ellen Rainer, Cole Denn, Jon Bisila, Blake Fox, Spencer Capes, Nicole Knickerbocker, Erin Dingmann, Kelsey Theisen, Brooke Merten, Katelyn Asfeld, Peter Frank, Shannon Donnay, Jenna Maus, and Abby Borman. Each participant earned a certificate of participation and spelling bee ribbon. Maus and Diffley were awarded medals. Diffley will add a trophy to her shelf. In addition, the Timberwolves organization offered participants and their families basketball game tickets for selected games at a reduced rate. Diffley and Maus earned free tickets.
Diffley wins 2007 District Spelling Bee
·
