Published: January 12, 2008 11:22 pm      

Keaton Ross spells 'w-i-n-n-e-r'

EDMOND — It was down to two. Fourth-graders Ritu Shah and Keaton Ross battled back and forth to win the Deer Creek Elementary Pee Wee Bee for second- through fourth-grades.

Things got tense after Ross misspelled “edible” but calmed down as Shah misspelled “ridicule.” Both students started over in the next round.

Ross correctly spelled his next word, “medalist,” but Shah misspelled her next word, “negotiate.” Ross won the spelling bee after correctly spelling his last word, peninsula.

“He (Ross) did a good job,” Shah said.

Sarjoo Shah, Ritu’s father, said he thought his daughter did very well.

“I thought she was a little nervous,” he said.

He said he helped his daughter study for the spelling bee from a book of words that was given to the students for preparation.

Ross said his study strategy was to study from the book for 30 minutes each night.

“I’m good at spelling but I didn’t think I was going to do that good,” he said.

He said he was feeling pretty confident when it got down to just him and Shah.

“I knew if I didn’t win I’d still be runner-up,” Ross said. “Even if I missed a word I still felt confident and tried my best.”

Previous to the school-wide spelling bee, every student competed in a class bee. The top three students in each class for the second- through fourth-grades competed. The top 10 students in each of the fifth-grade classes competed in a separate spelling bee. Allyssa Hurt won and Marley Scott won runner-up.

Julie Harris, third-grade teacher, said Ross and Shah will go on to compete in the regional spelling bee.

She said they compete through a written test, which will be graded by The Oklahoman as part of the newspaper’s Pee Wee Bee. Hurt and Scott will compete in an actual fifth-grade regional spelling bee. The winners of the regional contests in all grades will compete in statewide spelling bees.