Competition is stiff in fair spelling bee
By John Joyce
Published in News on October 4, 2016 9:57 AM
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Reigning champ Riley Glascoe, 17, speaks into the microphone during the the Wayne County Regional Agricultural Fair Spelling Bee Monday evening.
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News-Argus/SETH COMBS
Second place but an extremely strong competitor, Katherine Corbett, 17, spells at the Wayne County Regional Agricultural Fair Spelling Bee.
Riley Glascoe spent the time between her own turns sitting in her chair, spelling in her mind the terms given to her competitors.
The 17-year-old reigning champion of the Health and Occupational Students of America (HOSA) Spelling Bee retained her crown at the Wayne Regional Fair Monday night, but not without stiff competition.
Runner-up Katherine Corbett, 17, gave Glascoe a run for her money.
"We have never gone that far into the words before," organizer Faye Davis said.
The original cast of competitors - all high school students from Eastern Wayne, Charles B. Aycock and Spring Creek high schools - started out at 17.
After 23 rounds, the field had been whittled down to two.
By the end of the 42-round competition, Glascoe stood alone having spelled correctly the medical term that tripped up Corbett - eosinophil - and then her own final term, exophthalmic.
The two young women displayed a shared encyclopedic knowledge of medical terms throughout the night.
Corbett said she had spent the day prior going over the list of words the HOSA students had been given in advance of the competition. Her red, second-place ribbon attested to her acumen.
"My health-sci teacher told me to beat Aycock," said the Eastern Wayne High School student.
The instruction was her main focus between repeating, spelling and again repeating each term the proctor threw at her during each round.
"They were all Aycock," she said. "I was just trying to persevere."
Glascoe, a senior at Aycock and the president of its HOSA chapter, proved too tough an opponent for Corbett, despite her perseverance.
In addition to spelling her own words - and silently in her mind, of course - those given her opponents, Glascoe said she secretly hoped between rounds that she would not get one word in particular.
"Dyspnea. That was the one I didn't want to get," she said. "And I didn't."
She too had spent the day prior to the competition pouring over the list of terms. Actually, she said she went "over and over and over it."
Those two extra "overs" might have proved the difference between Corbett's red ribbon and Glascoe's blue, first-place ribbon. Or it could have been the fact she was able to dodge the word she dreaded most.
Either way, she said, she was off to consume an entire funnel cake to celebrate.
"We couldn't be more proud," her mother, Tammie Glascoe said.
She and her husband, Scott Glascoe, beamed with pride as their daughter darted off into the crowded fair.
"She is a great role model and a leader in her church," Mrs. Glascoe said.
She said her daughter and now two-time spelling bee champion hopes to be a nurse practitioner one day.