With coronavirus restrictions still in place, a venue change to the Mid-Ohio Valley Players’ theater on Putnam Street in Marietta saw a smaller crowd gathered, in two sections, to cheer on their spellers.

Words ranged from guffaw (to laugh noisily or coarsely) to callow (marked by lack of adult sophistication, experience, perception or judgment).

The bee was also live-streamed for a third time in recent years, this time on the Mid-Ohio Valley Players’ Facebook page to allow for family and friends to cheer on spellers from afar.

In the first round, four spellers from Veritas Classical Academy moved on to the top eight at the end of the night, with three of the four placing in the top five.

Photos by Christina Myer Evelyn Stout, of Wood County Schools, steps to the mic to spell during Friday’s Marietta Times Regional Spelling Bee.

Those four spellers included Neela Perez, Nathan McElroy, Ethan Vessels and Henry Corcoran.

In the second round, public school students gained ground, alongside Kathryn Nguyen of St. Mary’s Catholic School were Evelyn Stout of Edison Middle School, Olivia Eaton of Blennerhassett Middle School, and Maya Mincks of Hamilton Middle School.

The stage also saw multiple spell-offs as the word difficulty increased under the voice of Marietta College President Bill Ruud, who served as pronouncer on Friday.

Fifth-grade student McElroy, 11, of Whipple, took home the first-place trophy Friday, with the correct spelling of baleen, a word from a Greek-derived Latin word that became French and then English.

The word is a noun, representing a hornlike substance growing in the mouth of whales that is attached to two ranks along the upper jaw to form a fringe-like sieve to collect and retain food.

Used in a sentence, “Baleen continues to grow throughout a whale’s life.”

And with a round of applause from the viewers still remaining in the theater at the close of the evening, McElroy correctly spelled, “baleen, B-A-L-E-E-N, baleen.”

Ding.

McElroy said though his demeanor on stage showed temperance and reserve, inside that calm was not the same.

“I was so nervous,” he shared, but kept breathing with calm projection, not rushing each time he stepped up to the microphone.

McElroy not only took home a trophy, but also $100, sponsored by Peoples Bank, to spend, perhaps, on a wordy prize befitting the superb speller.

Janelle Patterson may be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.