2007 Kingman County Spelling Bee

February 20, 2007by Janet Deweese

The Kingman County Spelling Bee, hosted by Melvin Ormiston, Superintendent of U.S.D. No. 332, was held at the Cunningham School Gymnasium on Saturday, February 17, 2007.  There were two divisions in the contest.  Division "A" was for any student who has not passed the eighth grade and who is under 16 years of age on the date of the national competition finals, which this year is May 30, 2007.  This was the official division competition to select a county champion to represent Kingman County at the 54th State Spelling Bee in Topeka in March 24, 2007.  Division "B" was for any student in Grades one through five.  Each school in Kingman County was allowed to send five participants to each division.

Winner of the first place trophy in Division "A" was Sierra Davila, daughter of Robert and Priscilla Davila of Norwich.  Sierra is an eighth grade student at Norwich Grade School.  Receiving the second place trophy was William Vulgamore, a seventh grade student at Norwich Grade School.  William is the son of Roy and Jennifer Vulgamore of Norwich.  The third place trophy was won by Luke Wright, son of Bruce and Lisa Wright of Kingman.  Luke is a sixth grade student at Kingman Grade School.

Sierra Davila is the 2007 Kingman County Champion and will represent Kingman County in the Kansas State Spelling Bee in Topeka on March 24, 2007. 

Other contestants in Division "A" receiving certificates were: Katie Francis, Austin Mattal and James Fizer of Zenda Grade School; Jordan Schaller, Clayton Rohlman, Sara Rohlman and Jennifer Rainosek of St. Patrick Grade School; Calli Harrel, Kyle McCormack and Chelsey Stucky of Kingman Grade School; Gabrielle Garrison and Kaitlin Henson of Norwich Grade School; Tyler Cannon, Bayleigh Meyers, Nick Huhman and Justin Stackhouse of Cunningham Grade School.

In Division "B," the winner of the first place trophy was Mollie Panek, a fifth grade student at Cunningham Grade School.  Mollie is the daughter of Duane and Cindy Panek of Cunningham. The second place trophy was won by Joseph Houston a fourth grade student at Zenda Grade School.  Joseph is the Grandson of Garry Houston and Dan Maltbie of Nashville.   Paige Kelley won the third place trophy.  She is in the third grade at St.Patrick Grade School and is the daughter of Bill and Nichole Kelley of Kingman.

Other contestants in Division "B" receiving certificates were: Elijah McAdam, Nathan Albers, Isaiah McAdam and Kelli Youngers of Cunningham Grade School; Samuel Keeny, Patrick Orr, Stephanie Otte-Taylor, Hunter Morris and Connick Roe of Kingman Grade School; Emma Heimerman, Brooke Kruse, Branden Brown, Zach Stone and Jordyn Stephens of Norwich Grade School;  Johnna Mertens, Abigail Harbert, Katelyn Harbert and Hannah Wilborn of St. Patrick School; Brian King, Damien Goetz, Troy Francis and Preston Nemec of Zenda Grade School.

There were 19 contestants in Division "A" and 25 contestants in Division "B."  Division "B" took 144 words and Division "A" took 174 words to determine a champion.  Molly Panek won Division "B" by correctly spelling the final two words "fauna" and "gnome."  In Division "A" "omelet" and "opaque" were the final two correctly spelled words that won the Kingman County Spelling Bee Championship for Sierra Davila. 

The word pronouncer was John Setter.  Judges were Brent Garrison and Steve Miller.