Without pause, Evergreen Junior High School eighth-grader Jazmyn Austin spelled the winning word at the Flathead County Spelling Bee Thursday.

After 33 rounds Austin was named champion with winning word “hygiene.”

“It’s a crazy feeling. I never thought I’d make it this far,” Austin said.

Last year, she placed fourth at the county bee and made it her goal to be champion this year.

From rounds 13 to 32, Swan River School sixth-grader Tucker Nadeau went head to head with Austin before taking second place. Stillwater Christian seventh-grader Sophia Skwarchuk took third place.

This was the first county competition for Nadeau and Skwarchuk.

Whitefish Middle School seventh-grader Cheyenne Zepnick, who finished in fourth place, will be an alternate at the state competition. The top three local spellers will travel to the Treasure State Spelling Bee in Billings at Petro Theater March 24.

Twenty-eight students competed at the county bee after qualifying in each of their respective classroom and school spelling bees.

Austin, Nadeau and Skwarchuk agreed that being on stage in front of their peers and family was nerve-wracking.

“I was shaking the whole time,” Austin said.

To practice for the bee, Austin printed out word list after word list.

“I studied them constantly,” she said.

Her strategy to prepare for state: “Get more word lists.”

Nadeau’s study strategy was first typing out words and then writing them out, a technique he plans to continue until the state competition.  

Spelling from memory instead of writing the word down is a feat the top three spellers said was challenging.

“I think it’s easier to write the word, because you can see it on paper,” Skwarchuk said.

County Superintendent of Schools Marcia Sheffels described all 28 spellers as “word wizards,” competing in an “Olympics of the mind.”

“Like any sports event, a spelling bee has a high level of competition,” Sheffels said.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.