by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Caitlyn Hammond, a student at Argonia Middle School, became the Sumner County Spelling Bee Champion at the Wellington Middle School Theater Wednesday morning. She won with the word “consistency.”

Hammond won the right to represent Sumner County at the Sunflower Spelling Bee to be held at Fort Hays State University in March.

There were 34 participants at the county event seven public schools and two private schools. Hammond won in the 10th round beating Rylee Rusk, a student at Wellington Washington Elementary. Rusk was eliminated in round 9 with the word “demonstrable.” Hammond then spelled “opulent” correctly. In order to secure victory in the spelling bee, the winner must then spell another word, which was “consistency” in the 11th round. 

There were 168 words presented at the spelling bee. A participant was eliminated after misspelling a word. In round one two were eliminated. By round four there still 25. But the numbers dwindled significantly in round five, six and seven and by round eight there were just three. Madalyn Rhea of Argonia was eliminated with the word “implicit,” leaving just Hammond and Rusk to compete for the Sumner County title.

Other participants at the spelling bee were:

Wellington Middle School — Mason Lough, Taylor Meyer.

Wellington Christian Academy — Draecon Lee, Chance Rogers.

Argonia Middle School — Caitlyn Hammond, Madalynn Rhea.

Belle Plaine Elementary — Jaycee Heater, Johney Miller.

Belle Plaine Middle School — Dawn Hammond, Jax Heater.

Caldwell Elementary — Jadon Brown, Tapiwa Maforo.

Caldwell Middle School — Justin Brown, Corbin Rice.

Conway Springs Kyle Trueblood Elementary— Patrick Friess, Sadie Schmanke.

Conway Springs Middle School — Dominic Pauly, Amanda Smith.

St. Joseph Catholic School of Conway Springs — Austin Gibbs, Paige Lange.

Oxford Middle School — Anna Huff, Kendra Ives.

South Haven Elementary — Dylan DeWitt, Madison Smith.

South Haven Middle School — Rachel Turek, Kayden Wolf.

Wellington Eisenhower Elementary — Payton Smith, Callie Wickham.

Wellington Kennedy Elementary — Rachel Lee, Jessica Walker.

Wellington Lincoln Elementary — Kadin Brown, Brooklyn Buckner.

Wellington Washington Elementary— Tanner Meyer, Rylee Rusk.