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Spelling Bee – Piazza for the win!

By Nick Blank
Posted 1/30/19

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Spelling Bee – Piazza for the win!


Posted

OAKLEAF – With poise, Erik Williams took to the microphone, asked the word’s country of origin and how it could be used in a sentence. He said he knew how to spell “Piazza,” – a public square or marketplace in a town, usually Italian – but he wanted to check.

The St. Johns Country Day School sixth-grader won his second Clay County Spelling Bee title in a row after 17 rounds last week at Discovery Oaks Elementary.

Williams faced four rounds of sudden death with Lake Asbury Junior High’s Maddy Justino.

A 59-round slugfest from last year’s edition this was not. Audience members heard more than 150 words and the Bee lasted less than two hours.

Before the competition started, School Superintendent Addison Davis said students who put effort into the Spelling Bee improve their grammar, vocabulary, and competitive spirit, things that help students later in life.

“The parents and staff being here, this signifies how much you care about education,” Davis told the crowd of about 100. “We know that individuals that participate in events such as this develop a number of skills inside and outside of our classrooms.”

Williams, 11, was the 32nd competitor, which meant he went toward the end of each round. The first two rounds of the 38-student field shed 11 students per round on words ranging from “haberdashery,” to “vexation,” to “cliques.” Round three bounced three on “tofu,” “cameo,” “denim,” and then concluded with three consecutive misses with “homonym,” “seersucker,” and “fathom.”

Now Williams, who asked for the definition and country no matter the word, would go last.

Round four and five bounced one student each on “maraca,” and “muumuu,” respectively. Three students would exit in rounds six, nine and 10 on “daffodil,” “morgue,” and “mantilla.” The crowd gave contestants applause after each round.

Round 11 saw the elimination of Sophia Cheshire, who attends R.M. Paterson Elementary, on the spelling of credenza. Judges deliberated over whether they heard a “z,” or a “c,” before deciding on the latter. St. Johns Classical Academy’s Davin Smiley, who may have endured the toughest series of words in the competition, saw his run end on “tortilla.”

Down to three: Erik Williams, Justino and Ameera Usman from Oakleaf Junior High. Usman was eliminated by incorrectly spelling “desperado.” In rapid-fire fashion, Justino barreled through “buccaneer,” “amnesia” and “pochismo,” and last year’s winner countered with correct spellings of “ravioli,” “vogue” and “synopsis.”

Justino had a problem with another Italian word, libretto – an opera’s text. Williams landed “vulcanize,” and finally, “piazza.” (No word if Williams, 11, was a fan of the 1990s New York Mets teams and 2016 Hall of Fame inductee Catcher Mike Piazza.)

“Well I knew the word, and I just wanted to slow it down and make sure I didn’t miss it,” Williams said. “I got a couple of really hard ones – it was probably boutique (in round five). It was just weird and French.”

He said there wasn’t much room for error. His mother Annica Williams, who said the family had Swedish heritage, joked how there weren’t any Swedish words.

“There’s so many contestants and they all did great,” Erik Williams said.

“(Smiley) was knocking out long words,” said Erik’s father Alan Williams. “My wife (Annica) is the one who coaches him. They practice together and it’s kind of their thing. I’m just proud of him. He loves it and he puts the time in.”

Erik Williams will go to the 75th Annual First Coast Regional Spelling Bee at Jacksonville University in February. He was runner-up in the 2018 competition.