Taryn Ashby
Lincoln Middle Schooler Westin Martin won the annual Alachua County Spelling Bee on Wednesday afternoon.
The eighth grader will represent the county in the regional spelling bee in Jacksonville, sponsored by WJXT-Channel 4, in late February.
“I have never won a class or school spelling bee until this year,” said Martin in an interview. “This is incredible. I did not expect to win.”
Thirty-seven students representing 33 local elementary and middle schools gathered at Idylwild Elementary School for the competition.
The spelling bee lasted 18 rounds, each round eliminating students who misspelled their given word.
Nine rounds into the competition, only three students remained, who continued until round 15.
The remaining three rounds were between Martin and the runner-up, fifth grader Avinoor Jutla from Chiles Elementary School.
In round 18, Jutla misspelled ‘execrable,’ which allowed Martin to correctly spell two words in a row to win the spelling bee.
Martin’s winning word was ‘stanchion.’
The Scripps National Spelling Bee guide supplied the list of 600 words for the competition.
The spelling bee winner in Jacksonville will compete in the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee to be held May 31 to June 2 in Washington, D.C.