Eighth grade runner-up Zayden West-Nenichka misspelled “arabic” in the 10th round, instead spelling it as “aerobic,” giving Davison his chance to take first place. Davison correctly spelled “sausage” to advance to the one-word 11th round.

The final three rounds saw Davison and West-Nenichka go head-to-head as they correctly spelled words such as “voracious,” “amphitheater,” “thorax,” and “reference.”

Since both the third- and fourth-place finishers were eliminated in the seventh round, a spell-off was held to see who would be locked in to represent Lisbon in the Columbiana County Spelling Bee on March 2 at Beaver Local High School and who would serve as an alternate. The winner of the county bee will represent the county in the Scripps National Spelling Bee this spring.

McKinley Elementary Principal Dan Kemats hosted the event and noted at the beginning that Lisbon students have gone on to represent Columbiana County in the national bee in past years.

Lisbon fifth-grader and winner of the Lisbon Spelling Bee Friday, Braidon Davison, prepares to spell a word in one of the final rounds as fourth-place finisher, seventh-grader Ashden Donaldson, looks on. Davison seemed to breeze through his spellings without hesitation during the competition. (Photo by Evan Houk)

Seventh grader Ashden Donaldson misspelled “congregation” to give fifth grader Teagan Triplett the chance to take third place by correctly spelling “reindeer.”

The bee featured 40 spellers from grades 5-8 and started with a practice round, followed by eleven official rounds. Words gradually became harder in each subsequent round, starting with words such as “sudsy,” “bronze” and “putty.”

Eighth-grader Reagan Smith correctly spells a word in an early round of the Lisbon Spelling Bee Friday. Forty students in grades 5-8 participated in the competition to see which three students will represent Lisbon in the Columbiana County Spelling Bee on March 2 at Beaver Local High School. (Photo by Evan Houk)

Sixth-grader Bentley Gregg reacts after misspelling a word during the Lisbon Spelling Bee in the David Anderson Junior/Senior High School Auditorium Friday. (Photo by Evan Houk)

Fourth-place finisher in the Lisbon Spelling Bee Friday, seventh-grader Ashden Donaldson, correctly spells a word in one of the early rounds as other contestants, the three judges, and host McKinley Elementary Principal Dan Kemats, look on. (Photo by Evan Houk)

Third-place finisher in the Lisbon Spelling Bee Friday, fifth-grader Teagan Triplett misspells “flummox” to be eliminated in round 7 as eventual winner, fifth-grader Braidon Davison, anxiously looks on. (Photo by Evan Houk)