Youtsey quells fears, wins spelling bee

CINDY WOOD/independent feature writer

When in doubt, always go with your first instinct, and that’s what 2011 Van Wert County Spelling Bee champion Derek Youtsey did in winning last night’s bee at The Marsh Foundation Auditorium.

“I know I didn’t know what it was,” Youtsey said of the championship word “quell.” “My second guess would have been ‘qwell’, but I got lucky and made the right guess.”

Youtsey, a seventh grader at Lincolnview Junior High and son of Chris and Stacy Youtsey, knocked out runner-up Chris Kraner of Van Wert when he stumbled on the word “palate.”

“I probably would have misspelled that too, so I’m glad that wasn’t my word,” Youtsey said, while also admitting his study habits leading up to the bee weren’t exactly stellar. “Actually I looked at the book for about five minutes last night,” he said with a laugh.

“We actually had a little fight about him not studying, but he does work hard at his grades, and he puts a lot of time and effort into it,” Stacy Youtsey said of her son, who oftentimes faces tougher challenges than the word “quell.”

“He’s a diabetic, so I was kind of afraid his blood sugar would get too low up there tonight, but he just handles it every day,” Youtsey’s mother said.

The spelling bee moved along quickly, with Youtsey claiming the championship in the 16th round. Twenty-six spellers from area schools fought it out over words such as “talc,” “mirage,” “geode” and “pumpernickel.” Third-place finisher Amber Lichtenberger, a fifth-grader at Crestview Elementary School, was disappointed, but not too much.

“I was pretty upset, but I wasn’t like hyperventilating or anything like that,” she said with a smile. Knocked out on the word “nightingale,” Lichtenberger said she knew it was a bird, but wasn’t quite sure on the spelling.

“I wasn’t really sure if it was supposed to be a ‘g’ in there or not, but I’m pretty excited I at least got third place,” she added.

Judges for the bee were Mark Bagley, principal of Van Wert Middle School; Kathy Mollenkopf, principal of Crestview Elementary; and Gordon Stemen, Lincolnview Elementary principal.

Sponsored by Van Wert Federal Savings Bank, contestants for the bee included Jacob Bowman, Cora Millay, Maci Baker, Hannah Bowen, Noah Daugherty, Corban Grubb, Bella Chorvas and Lichtenberger, all of Crestview; Frankie Carey, Braxten Robey, Katlyn Wendel, Ryanne DuCheney, Madie Enyart, Jennifer Schrecengost, Dakota Valdez and Youtsey, all of Lincolnview; Nick Motycka, Madison Bowers, Wade Healey, Korbin Schalois, Nathan Ireland, Samantha Shartzer, Chloe Brake and Kraner, all of Van Wert; and Alisha Terhark and Joe Schaufelberger, of St. Mary’s Elementary.