OXON HILL, Maryland – Blaze Blacketer of North Canton misspelled his first word in the Scripps National Spelling Bee and was knocked out of the competition.
The 14-year-old eighth grader from Oakwood Middle School incorrectly spelled “sprechstimme” in the first round May 27. The word is defined by Merriam-Webster as “a vocal passage or performance in which a declamation is delivered with rhythmic inflections.”
Blaze represented the Canton Repository in the National Bee, after winning the Regional Final Bee in March. He competed in his school spelling bee in sixth and seventh grades, but hadn’t qualified for the Canton bee before this year.
“I’m going to give it my best shot, but I didn’t think I would win the last one, so you never know,” Blaze said before the national competition.
This is a special year for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. It is celebrating its 100th anniversary, calling back to its first national bee in June 1925, when nine spellers competed for the national title.
The Akron Beacon Journal, a sister paper to the Repository, is the bee’s Regional Partner of the Year. It is the longest, continuously running partner in the National Bee. Akron had a speller in the first year and has taken part in every bee since then.
This article originally appeared on The Repository: Stark County student knocked out of National Spelling Bee. See the word he missed
Reporting by Laura Kessel, Canton Repository / The Repository
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