Nine rounds and 25 minutes of word spelling came down to “spoonerism.”

That reveals the level of spelling knowledge needed to compete in this year’s Bluffton Middle School Spelling Bee.

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Starting with five sixth graders, five seventh graders and five eighth graders, the field reduced to two contestants after the eighth round.

Then came “palliative,” which eliminated Isaac Pimentel, sixth grader. When Danielle Novak, seventh grader, spelled it correctly, she needed only to spell “spoonerism” correctly to win. And she did.

Danielle and Isaac will represent Bluffton in the Allen County Spelling Bee later this school year.

This year’s contestants were:

Sixth grade
Grace Myers
Isaac Pimentel
Pearl Lewandowski
Bella Angel
Jonah Blackburn

Seventh grade
Danielle Novak
Maria Spallinger
Harrison Stechschulte
Olivia Burner
Libby Schaadt

Eighth grade
Rhett Donaldson
Jackson Steinmetz
Amanda Speicher
Isaac Strahan
Derek Swartzlander

This year’s pronouncer was Ruth Naylor. Judges were Nancy Armour and Susie Gratz.