Swan River speller climbs 'parapet'

Last year, Laurel Sugden was bogged down by "bayou" and finished second at the Flathead County Spelling Bee.

On Thursday, she triumphed over "parapet" and brought home a first-place victory.

The Swan River School sixth-grader will make her second trip in as many years to the Treasure State Spelling Bee in Helena on March 29. Last year, she finished in fourth place at state.

"It feels really good" to win, Sugden said. "After last year, I've been studying year-round."

Her parents and younger brother quiz her, she said. She also studies on her own from "Spell It!" - Scripps National Spelling Bee's official study booklet - which is available online.

Twenty-nine local students competed in the county spelling bee at Flathead High School on Thursday afternoon. Twelve went down in the first round, defeated by words such as "ingenious," "barrio" and "scampi."

A handful of spellers missed words in the next few rounds, stumped by "wiseacre," "misanthropy" and "eiderdown."

Sugden was among six girls who made it to round six. One by one, they heard the dreaded bell that signals a misspelled word. "Notochord," "contrapuntal," "peloton" and "gestalt" proved too much for the spellers.

Sugden's word was "Argentine," which she spelled easily. Only Molly Schmidt, an eighth-grader from Whitefish Middle School, could stop her now.

Schmidt stumbled on "megalopolis," but Sugden still had to prove herself. If she misspelled the next word, everyone would move on to the next round.

The word was "parapet." Sugden repeated it, then asked for the meaning. When pronouncer Nancy Kimball read the definition - a rampart raised upon or above a main wall in a permanent fortification - Sugden nodded and spelled it without hesitation.

Kimball nodded, and Sugden grinned.

"Yes!" she said.

The remaining girls spelled off for second, third and alternate places.

There was some confusion in the spell-off round. Fifth-grader Ciera Finberg of Ruder Elementary and Kalispell Montessori sixth-grader Joceline Denton had been the first two eliminated in the sixth round and already had left the stage. They were still eligible to spell off, however.

Finberg joined the rest of the girls on stage and correctly spelled "cacao" to win the alternate spot. Denton already had left the building and did not compete in the spell off.

Home-schooler Cassia Wagner, an eighth-grader, spelled "hedonism" for second place. Third place went to Melinda Kraemer, an eighth-grader at Fair-Mont-Egan School, after she successfully spelled "foliate."

The top three finishers will compete at the state spelldown.

"I'll keep studying the way I have been," Sugden said on how she plans to prepare for the next level of competition. "And I'll just try to have fun."

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com.