By Krystal Smalley
ksmalley@wbcowqel.com
Zoe Rutledge is no stranger to spelling bees and, after Tuesday night’s win, she’s ready to tackle the bee on a bigger stage.
Rutledge had placed in the top six at this year’s County Spelling Bee, which qualified her for the Tri-County Spelling Bee at the Mid-Ohio Educational Service Center. The Buckeye Central eight-grader capped her spelling bee career with a word that she didn’t have too much trouble with: “cholera.”
Rutledge had won the County Spelling Bee in 2013 and placed second in 2012. She admitted it didn’t go so well at the county level this year when she placed fifth but she didn’t let that deter her from reaching high at the tri-county level.
Rutledge refused to cruise into the Tri-County Spelling Bee, where she would face 35 other contenders. Instead, she prepared herself by attending weekly study groups every Wednesday. Rutledge, along with three other girls, would be given words to spell and tips.
“I’ve been doing this since third grade,” said the veteran speller. “I’ve always liked spelling; I’ve always liked vocabulary just because it’s something I was good at.” She liked the fact that there would always be a right or wrong answer when it came to words.
Competing against students from Crawford, Richland, and Morrow Counties, Rutledge let her love of words shine through.
“Honestly, I thought they (the words) were easier than the County Spelling Bee,” Rutledge said with a little laugh. She successfully spelled the words “sassafras,” “magnificence,” and the winning word “cholera.” “The rest were fairly easy actually,” Rutledge said.
Despite what she felt were easy words, Rutledge said the competition was pretty tough. “There was one kid—he got second,” Rutledge said. “As soon as he came in, I saw him and said ‘yep, final two.’”
Rutledge was referring to Lexington eighth-grader Ajit Venkatakrishan, who did end up taking home second place. The two went a few rounds in the championship round before Venkatakrishan misspelled “masquerade.” Rutledge came back with a correctly spelled “seismograph” and clinched the win with “cholera.”
“It kind of like took me a second,” Rutledge said when they announced she was the winner. “I kind of stepped back and I was like, ‘oh, okay!’ Then I started smiling and all that.”
Rutledge now has her sights set on a new goal: the regional competition of the Scripps Spelling Bee at Ohio University in Athens this Saturday. The regional bee is unrelated to the Tri-County Spelling Bee. Rutledge had to take a test to qualify for the regional spelling bee.
“I’m so scared, I’m really nervous,” Rutledge said about her upcoming trip to the regional competition. “I’m not expecting to go anywhere. I’ll be really happy to be (in) the top 10.”
She will be joined in the regional spelling bee by Colonel Crawford eighth grader and the 2014 Crawford County Spelling Bee champion Chloe Carman, Bucyrus sixth grader and the 2014 Bucyrus City Spelling Bee champion Emma McAdams, and Wynford eighth grader Brionna Hill.