The first to congratulate her with a high-five was first runner-up sixth grader Noah Rigby, who was the Southeast Elementary School champion while Cox was the Salem Junior High Champion.

They’ll have the chance to face-off again in the Columbiana County Spelling Bee on March 1, along with fellow Salem spellers second runner-up eighth grader Trevor Bails, third runner-up seventh grader Ethan Cole, fourth runner-up sixth-grader Natalie Devine and fifth runner-up eighth grader Cal Harper.

Out of the six, only Cox and Devine have never been to the county contest, which is co-sponsored by the Columbiana County Educational Service Center and the Salem News, Morning Journal and East Liverpool Review. The winner of the county bee automatically wins a trip to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee later this year.

Last year’s county spelling bee champion was Marissa Gatewood, a Salem student, with the traveling trophy going to Salem schools. This year’s county bee is being held at the Salem High School auditorium, so the Salem spellers will be on familiar spelling turf.

Salem seventh grader McKaylynn Cox ponders a word during the Salem City Bee Tuesday morning, later correctly spelling “skulking” in the 20th round to become this year’s Salem spelling bee champion. (Photo by Mary Ann Greier)

The Salem City Bee started out with 18 students, half from the junior high and half from Southeast, taking part in a practice round with words such as “superb” and “braid” and “patio.” Then the real spelling began, with the group on stage at the high school auditorium getting smaller. By the fourth round, the six finalists were set, then gradually the numbers were down to the final three in the ninth round and then there were two starting in round 14.

Words in those final rounds varied from camouflage and defibrillator to temple and comma, with pronouncer Kathy Boggess switching to the Merriam Webster Unabridged Dictionary for words in the final five rounds.

To learn more about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, visit spellingbee.com.