Medina girl wins county spelling bee

Lydia Odenbach, Medina, N.D., won the Stutsman County Spelling Bee on Feb. 22 at St. Paul’s Methodist Church, Jamestown. There were 84 participants in grades 1-8.

There were 27 students in grades 5-8 who participated in the written competition with 10 advancing to the oral competition. These students all had a score of 46 out of 50 or better. Out of these 10 students, six had perfect scores of 50/50 going into the orals.

They were: Victoria Christiansen from Christensen Home School Academy, Jessica Dong, Odenbach and Jennifer Dong from Medina, and Amanda Allen and Taylor Schmeichel from Pingree-Buchanan. Other oral qualifiers were Lawton Allen, Seth Horn and Dylan Kruger from Pingree-Buchanan and Alex Huff from Medina. At the end of the orals the six who started with perfect scores all spelled 5/5 correctly in the orals. There was a six-way tie-breaker. Odenbach won. Jennifer Dong and Schmeichel tied for runner-up, and Dong was named the alternate.

Odenbach is the daughter of Ryan and Sheri Odenbach. She is a seventh-grader at Medina Public School. She represented Stutsman County at the State Spelling Bee last year in Bismarck and will do so again this year on March 22. The winner of the State Spelling Bee will advance to the National Spelling Bee in Washington in May.

Other students participating in the written contest were: Connor Mullowney, St. John’s Academy; Kathryn Hetlevedt, Hetletvedt Home School; Hobie Bear, Morgan Smith, Morgan Harr, Nik Marks, Savanna Dick and Haley Jensen, Montpelier; Abbey Partlow Blake Zirbes, Kyle Partlow, and Taylor Sabinash, Kensal; Tyler Schlenker and Joshua Cook, Hillcrest; Keily Mittleider, Miranda Reister and Austin Haakenson, Medina, and Cody Homes and Julissa Beerbower, Pingree-Buchanan.

Those receiving ribbons and participating in grades 5-8 were:

Medina: Odenbach, Jessica Dong and Jennifer Dong, blue, and Alex Hoff, white.

Pingree-Buchanan: Schmeichel and Amanda Allen, blue, Lawton Allen, red, and Horn and Kruger, white.

Christiansen Home School Academy: Christiansen, blue.

Montpelier: Morgan Smith, white.

There were 57 students who participated in grades 1-4. The participants and ribbons awarded were as follows:

First grade

Montpelier: Nora Smith, blue, and Ashlynn Walz, red.

Kensal: Carter Spitzer, blue, and Preston Dockter, red.

Hillcrest: Leyton Kahler and Ceyonna Sayler, blue, Shania Foerderer, red, and Sydne Koppang.

Medina: Kane Schmidt, red.

Pingree-Buchanan: Ella Falk, blue.

Second grade

Miller Home School: Eliana Miller, blue.

Kensal: Autumn Brainerd, red.

Hillcrest: Azariah Foerderer and Natasha Haas, blue, and Elleanna Lausch and Noah Weber.

Medina: Emily Carlson, Elizabeth Leik and John Dong, blue.

Montpelier: Kassidy Boom, Lynkin Steele and Megan Witcraft, blue.

Pingree-Buchanan: Emma Mueller and Hunter Petersen, blue, and Lane Kautzman and Madison Tompkins, red.

Third grade

Montpelier: Maggie Sears, blue, Ethan Mckenny and Taylor Jansen, red, and Ryleigh Smith.

Kensal: Austin Trelstad.

Hillcrest: Isaiah Schultz, blue, Adrian Little and Ciarra Sayler, red, Bella Rittenbach, white, and Emilee Weigel.

Medina: Gracie Gunderson and Brittney Reister, blue, and Kaden Schmidt, red.

Pingree-Buchanan: Matthew Thomas, blue.

Fourth grade

Miller Home School: Liza Miller, blue.

Montpelier: Wyatt Parenteau and Kennedy Bullock, red, and Kenzie Knight, white.

Hillcrest: Derek Rittenbach, Sierra Schlenker and Christopher Sayler, red, Seth Weber, white, and Jonah Sund.

Medina: Makenna Bosche, blue.

Pingree-Buchanan: Ben Zuther, Adrian Nannenga, Michael Thomas and Bryson Tripp, blue, and Danielle Trapp and Mason McIlonie, red.

Tags: community, education