The Merrill District Spelling Bee was held Tuesday, January 22, 2019 at the Prairie River Middle School Auditorium. Seven schools were represented by a total of 31 students; Jefferson Elementary-Keylin Allen, Zachary Schmeltzer; Kate Goodrich-Jeannette Albert, Doug Hughes; Maple Grove Charter School-Kylie Lutzke, Ava Scantlin; PRMS-Chase Klebenow, Parker Klebenow, Mitchell Moran, Mackenzie Ellenbecker, Annika Stingel, Clayton Evans, Gracie Wyma, Dylan Smith, Arabella Baumann, Sebastian Ollmann, Olivia Troyer, Lily Grefe, Ryder Depies, Seth Brown, Conor Sayles; St. Francis Xavier Catholic School-Theo Johnson, Gracey Busterud, Sergei Wunsch, Isaiah Rell; St. John Lutheran School-Maria Malinowski, Brody Benedict, Grace English, Breannon Herdt; Washington Elementary School-Kaylynn Allen, Adalyn Blake.
All the students took a 25 word written test and the top 10 scorers from the written test were in a spell down. The top 10 listed are: Maria Malinowski, Breannon Herdt, Mitchell Moran, Lily Grefe Sebastian Ollmann, Gracie Wyma, Ryder Depies, Clayton Evans, Seth Brown & Isaiah Rell. Of the ten, the top 3 finishers and one alternate (Ryder Depies 1st Place/PRMS; Maria Malinowski 2nd Place/St. John Lutheran School; Clayton Evans 3rd Place/PRMS and Lily Grefe alternate/PRMS). The four will now advance to the Regional Spelling Bee at John Muir Middle School in Wausau on Thursday, beginning at 3:15 PM.