Seventh-grader Emily Withers tugged on her hair while spelling ÒvestigeÓ at the Pequot Lakes District Spelling Bee on Friday, Jan. 29, in the high school auditorium. Withers was the district champion.

Fifth-grade classroom winners were Abby Person, Jessica Hoke, Mackenzie Chiodi and Keegan Severance. Severance was fifth-grade champion.

Sixth-grade classroom winners were Erin Shepard, Jack Harguth, Barbara Miller and Emma Pitzl. Pitzl was sixth-grade champion.

Eighth-grade classroom winners were Sarah Rudlang, Malyssa Engren, Miranda Schmidt and Travis Jacobson. Schmidt was eighth-grade champion.

After 19 rounds and words like "pantisocracy," "stalactite" and "epilation," Pequot Lakes seventh-grader Emily Withers won a dual with classmate Lucas Mumm to become the district spelling bee winner Friday, Jan. 29, in the high school auditorium.

Four students each from fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades competed in the district spelling bee. After determining champions from each grade, the slate was wiped clean and all 16 students participated in the district miss-and-out contest. One misspelled word and they were out of the contest.

The field quickly dwindled to Withers and Mumm. As words became increasingly difficult to spell, both students remained in the bee with numerous misspellings. Withers had a chance to win the bee in the fifth, eighth, ninth, 12th, 13th and 15th rounds, but misspelled her second words needed to claim the championship.

Mumm had a chance to win in the 10th round.

Judges ran out of words after the 17th round so returned to words they had skipped. Mumm correctly spelled "commentary," and Withers correctly spelled "chemical. In the 19th round, Mumm misspelled "lobbyist," and Withers correctly spelled "expectant" and "migraine" for the championship. Mumm finished as runner-up.

Both Withers and Mumm advance to The Lakes Bee on Feb. 19 in Brainerd. The regional winner will go on to compete at nationals in May in Washington, D.C.

Grade winners were:

Fifth grade - Keegan Severance, first; Mackenzie Chiodi, second; Jessica Hoke, third; and Abby Person, fourth. Alternate was Jaeger Reed.

Sixth grade - Emma Pitzl, first; Barbara Miller, second; Erin Shepard, third; and Jack Harguth, fourth. Alternate was Hannah Brandanger.

Seventh grade - Withers, first; Mumm, second; Zach Trottier, third; and Henry Liedl, fourth.

Eighth grade - Miranda Schmidt, first; Sarah Rudlang, second; Travis Jacobson, third; and Malyssa Engren, fourth.