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Ex-champ wins bee after 18-round duel
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The Vindicator 76th Regional Spelling Bee
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The contest could have gone either way as the last two standing both missed words.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN — John Umble has done it again.
The grand champion of the 2007 Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee has been named grand champion of the 2009 event as well.
Umble, 14, and an eighth-grader at Willow Creek Learning Center, claimed his second title Saturday in the regional bee at Kilcawley Center at Youngstown State University.
Andrew Rossi, 12, a seventh grader representing Holy Family School, came in second, but, for several rounds, the final result could have gone either way.
The two went head-to-head for 10 rounds before Andrew misspelled the word “repugnance.” By bee rules, John should have been given the opportunity to correctly spell that word and then spell a second word correctly to be declared the grand champion.
The bee pronouncer, however, inadvertently announced the correct spelling as soon as Andrew missed it (the common practice when a speller misses a word), resulting in Andrew being given a new word, which he spelled correctly.
The battle went on for two more rounds when John misspelled “mimosa,” giving the advantage temporarily to Andrew. But Andrew misspelled it as well, and the contest moved into the next round of words.
The pair went five more rounds before Andrew missed “recognizance,” turning the advantage to John, but he missed it as well.
In the next round, Andrew misspelled “conceivable,” and, this time, John spelled it correctly.
He went on to spell the next word, “fluorescent,” to claim victory.
Julia Miglets, 12, daughter of David and Laura Miglets of Poland and a seventh-grader representing Springfield Intermediate School, finished third, taking the same spot she achieved last year.
Both she and Andrew have one more year of eligibility for bee competition.
This was John’s last year. He’s been his school champion five times and competed in the same number of Vindicator events. He took second place last year.
He gave up a trip to the state MATHCOUNTS competition to participate in Saturday’s bee.
John, son of Jim and Kathryn Umble of Poland, said it was “really neat, actually” to come back for another regional bee competition, but he admitted that he got nervous when both he and Andrew spelled several words incorrectly.
“I was very surprised we both missed,” he said.
He studied hard for the bee and said he found a spelling test on the Web at spellingbee.com that seemed to help his performance.
He’s been reading since the age of 2, and his parents describe him as an avid reader.
He came into Saturday’s competition with a secret good luck charm.
He was wearing the Vindicator Regional Spelling Bee T-shirt from his 2005 appearance under his sweater. He had used the same strategy when he won the 2007 event, that time wearing the T-shirt from his 2004 bee appearance under his clothing.
What’s up next for him?
“Study hard,” he said, looking forward to being the regional representative at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in May.
Andrew, son of Gregg and Becky Rossi of Poland, said he was “extremely nervous” during the competition, even though he’d been in the regional event twice before.
He’s always been a good speller, his mother said, adding that they play a spelling game anytime they travel as a family. Andrew went out in the fourth round in the 2007 bee and in the fifth round in the 2008 event.
His treat for doing so well Saturday?
Andrew loves Mexican food and was to be treated with a trip to a Mexican restaurant, his mother said.
gwin@vindy.com