Mentor Middle Schoolers Spell Their Way To V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

The spelling bee champions from the Mentor district's three middle schools faced off Wednesday afternoon to be named the top of their grade.

Vishnu Nistala, of , topped fellow eighth graders Omar Mansour and Rachel Imhoff to stay the spelling bee champ of his grade.

Last year, won the districtwide bee and he'll have a chance to defend his crown Jan. 31 at .

Seventh grade champ Dallin Crawford, of Memorial, was almost knocked out of the competition when he misspelled "frivolous." However, he got a second chance when runner-up Elyse Began misspelled "disappoint" and lost her chance to seal the victory. (Eamon Bracken had been eliminated before.)

Dallin made the most of his second opportunity and outlasted Elyse, who was finally eliminated after a 15-minute faceoff when she mistook "accrued" and "ecru."

Meanwhile, Noah Rolfes, of Shore, outlasted Adam Kaderly and Devon Messner to become the sixth grade spelling champ.

All of the grade champions will compete against each other Jan. 31 for one slot at the countywide spelling bee.

Mentor Schools Assistant Superintendent William Porter was the master of ceremonies for the competition.

For each grade, it took several rounds for one student to differentiate himself as the champ because they were all so well prepared.

Afterward, Porter told the students, "This was the best middle school spelling bee competition I've ever seen."