OSWEGO — A fourth-grader from Mound Valley Grade School won the Labette County Spelling Bee on Wednesday afternoon at Oswego Junior-Senior High School.
With the win, Timber Blasor will represent Labette County at the 2025 statewide spelling bee on March 23, 2025, at Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina.
Brody Mayfield, a sixth-grader from Bartlett Grade School, was runner up.
It took six rounds of words before Blasor was the only speller left. If she spelled the word correctly, she would be the winner. She spelled “gorgeous” without hesitation to win. Mayfield was eliminated in the sixth round by “hickory.”
This year’s contest featured 10 spellers. Chetopa Schools didn’t field a contestant.
The first round featured “vampire,” “timely,” “sugar,” “workmanship,” “bandit,” “frolic,” “buffalo,” “ballot,” “ninja” and “easel.” Contestants misspelled “buffalo” and “ballot.”
Round two featured “handsome,” “icicle,” “prescription,” “academy,” “thermal,” “android,” “primal” and “quiver.” One speller was eliminated with “primal.”
Round three eliminated three other spellers with “tycoon,” “fickle” and “macaroni.”
This left four contestants in round four. The word “decoy” eliminated one of them. Round five featured “manicure,” “prairie” and “rupture.” Prairie was missed.
This left Blasor and Mayfield in round six. Blasor spelled “karma” correctly. Mayfield misspelled “hickory.” That led to the final word of “gorgeous” for Blasor.
Bee organizer Cynthia Sanders said this would be her and Roberta Brightman’s last year organizing the spelling bee. She hopes other educators will step into the role. Cara Johnson, principal at Service Valley Charter Academy, checked the speller’s work and announced if the word was correct or incorrect.
Echoe Lee won the Labette County bee in 2023 and competed in the 2024 contest. She was an eighth-grader at Altamont Grade School at the time. The statewide winner for 2024 was Carey Chesire of Andover Middle School.
Contestants on Wednesday were: Jack Gilreath, eighth-grader at Altamont Grade School; Brody Mayfield, sixth-grader at Bartlett Grade School; Gatlan Muller, sixth-grader at Edna Grade School; Francine Galan, fourth-grader at Guthridge School; Franco Almonacid-Hayden, seventh-grader at Meadow View Grade School; Timber Blasor, fourth-grader at Mound Valley Grade School; Jackson Gilley fourth-grader at Neosho Heights Elementary School; Axel Santana, eighth-grader at Oswego Junior-Senior High School; Collin Ray, seventh-grader at Parsons Middle School; and Dylan Davis, seventh-grader at Service Valley Charter Academy.
