Merrick Dodge Wins MacArthur Spelling Bee

Merrick Dodge pumped his fist in the air. He had won the MacArthur Spelling Bee. Or so he thought. After the judges huddled for a moment they realized that Christian Ermann who misspelled the word capitol by spelling the wrong version of the word should never have been given that word since it is a homonym which are not allowed in the spelling bee rules.

So the judges ruled that the championship round between Dodge and Ermann start over. After about ten minutes of part two of the championship round it was again Dodge who came up victorious. The word Dodge spelled to clinch the championship was luau.

Ermann finished second, while Luis Lopez came home third. There were 24 spellers who participated in front of a packed out gym at MacArthur Elementary full of students and parents.

While posing for pictures after his victory a smiling Dodge said that this is his first trophy. Ermann and Lopez who both earned medals then mentioned that this is the first medal.