By Lucky Kidd
McPHERSON COUNTY, Kan. — It took 14 rounds to decide the winner of the inaugural McPherson County Adult Spelling Bee Friday night at The Hub in Moundridge and a tiebreaker to decide second and third place.
Derek King, one of the three representatives of the Moundridge Public Library, came out as the top speller, spelling astrophysicist after correctly spelling focaccia, which was missed by Rose Klataske, representing the Canton Township Library, and Dinah Strange from the McPherson Public Library in the 14th round of the bee.
Klataske and Strange then had a spell-off to decide second and third place which went another five words before Klataske correctly spelled staphylococcus to take second.
One speller was eliminated in each of the first three rounds, with two eliminated in the fourth. The next speller eliminated was in round 7, with the last six going three rounds before two more went down in round 10 and one in round 11 before the final three went two rounds before the county title was decided.
With King’s victory, the Moundridge Public Library will get a traveling trophy to keep for the next year and will receive a portion of Friday nights’ proceeds from the Hub. The inaugural Adult Spelling Bee drew a large audience to Moundridge for the finals.
Ad Astra Radio’s Rob Mackey served as the pronouncer for the County Bee with Ad Astra’s Casey Justus and Betsy Davis from the McPherson County Community Foundation serving as the judges for the evening.
