A total of 17 students from schools across the county attended Flagstaff High School’s Mini Auditorium on Saturday. To qualify, each had won the school’s spelling bee.

The field was among the top three contestants by the seventh round, and Hill spelled the winning words correctly in the next round.

Flagstaff Christian School’s Ember Evans was runner-up, missing the word “pneumonia.” Mount Elden Middle School’s James Janik finished third after being eliminated for the word “Leander.”

After the tournament, Evans said, “I think I feel good. It’s definitely a relief.”

She added that she recognized some of the school bee words. “This was really helpful,” she said, as she hadn’t spent much time studying the new list.

Hill also said the bees were “good” but was a little nervous about being on stage in the auditorium. It was my first time.

She said she didn’t spend much time practicing and just played a few video games to relax.

Hill’s mother, Jeanie Barnes, said, “I think they’ve all done really well. Some of them were very harsh.” She was “very nervous and excited” for her daughter to go to Arizona Spellingbee next month.

Hill will compete in the State Spelling Bee in Phoenix on Saturday, March 18th. Winners of the Phoenix Contest will qualify for the National Spelling Bee later this year.

The Bees of Saturday were donned by Coconino County Educational Services. Rotary clubs of Flagstaff, Williams and the Grand Canyon contributed judges and prizes for the event.

Judged the event along with Pronunciation Stephanie Hammond was Micah Crabdry of Flagstaff, Tanya Christie and Troy Troutman of Williams, and Kleian Cook of Grand Canyon.

Other contestants for this year’s Coconino County Bees are: Isabel Abraham of Maine Consolidated School. Cohen Ayler at Puente de Hojo Elementary School. Linnea Bolton of Flagstaff Junior Academy. Flagstaff tutor Amelia Boone. Joseph Harmon at Norres Elementary School. Eli Miller at Leading Edge Academy Flagstaff. His Aiden Morgese of the Kinsey Inquiry and Discovery School. Oliver Pickup at Demiguel Elementary School. Zoe Smith at Fredonia Elementary School. Gabriel Stern of Cromer Elementary School. Bergyn Taney of Sechrist Elementary. Triston Zikopoulos of Williams Elementary School.

This year’s words ranged from “railing” to “switcheroo” to “silk.”

When asked if there was a word he wished he hadn’t spelled, Charles Wesche, a student at San Francisco de Assis Elementary School, replied, “It’s Sanskrit.”

This was sophomore Murphy Wright’s second year competing in the County Spelling Bee, winning the Marshall Elementary Bee both times he participated. When asked how she felt about this year’s event, Wright said it “worked better” than the previous year.

She said she practiced a list of words every night with her parents, Sarah and Andy Wright, and wrote down some of them in preparation. In words, it was a little surprising, she said.

“We are so proud of her,” her father said.

Coconino County Spelling Bee records can be found at: facebook.com/CCESA.ID/.