PHS spellers make mark at State Finals

PHS Spell Bowl Team - Front: Zach Mahan Middle: Kelsey Schnieders, Tori Godwin, Allegra Davis, Pauline Dagaas, Angel Figueroa, Abby Schumacher Back: Dakota Bradley, Ashley Stokes, Grace Stokes, Nate Mahan, Dana Hall, Cody Gamble, Kurt Corsbie, and coach Amy Schmeltz

LAFAYETTE, IN - The Plymouth High School Spell Bowl team finished second at the state finals at Purdue University on Saturday.

In Class 2, John Glenn won with a score of 84, followed by Plymouth with 75, and Gibson Southern, 64. Pauline Dagaas, Zach Mahan, Ashley Stokes, and Grace Stokes earned perfect scores. This was the second perfect score this season for Mahan, the team's only senior.

Perfect spellers Ashley Stokes, Zach Mahan, Grace Stokes, and Pauline Dagaas

Two near perfect spellers, Abby Schumacher and Kurt Corsbie, missed only one word each for the second and third time this season, respectively. This was Plymouth's second trip to the state finals in as many years and a season and school-record performance, capping off a highly successful season.

At the NLC meet in October, the team placed first with a score of 70, maintaining conference champion status for the second year in a row. They followed up their impressive Conference Championship by winning the Area Contest with a score of 71.

Team members include freshmen Allegra Davis and Cody Gamble; sophomore Nate Mahan; juniors Dakota Bradley, Kurt Corsbie, Pauline Dagaas, Angel Figueroa, Tori Godwin, Dana Hall, Kelsey Schnieders, Abby Schumacher, Ashley Stokes, Grace Stokes,and senior Zach Mahan.

Near Perfect spellers Kurt Corsbie and Abby Schumacher

Some of the team's winning words at the state contest included seigneury, assent, syzygy,, teraph, tocsin, imbroglio, peperomia, atlatl, Reykjavik, and dermatomyositis.