By: Michelle Kinsey—
Muncie, IN – For the second year in a row, Winchester student Andrew Toney has spelled his way to the top spot at the WIPB-TV Spelling Bee.
After six rounds, Toney, an eighth-grade student at Lee L. Driver Middle School in Winchester, successfully spelled “binomial” to win the 2020 WIPB Spelling Bee Saturday morning. He was also the 2019 champion.
Toney will now go on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May near Washington, D.C.
Forty-eight other school champions from Delaware, Jay, Blackford, Randolph, Madison and Henry counties competed this year in Sursa Performance Hall, on the campus of Ball State University.
Students wait for the 2020 WIPB Spelling Bee to begin Saturday at Sursa Performance Hall, on the campus of Ball State University. Photo provided
The first runner-up was Georgia Davis, a fifth-grader at Wes-Del Elementary School in Gaston. Second runner-up was Clark Wellman, a fifth-grader at Bloomfield Elementary School in Bryant.
Wellman was involved in the WIPB Spelling Bee’s first tiebreaker for third place with three other spellers after all of them misspelled their words in a single round.
“Just getting to the WIPB stage is a big accomplishment,” said Michelle Kinsey, WIPB Community Engagement Manager and Spelling Bee coordinator. “All of our spellers were wonderful today and should be very proud. The words provided by Scripps this year were very difficult.”
Last year, first runner-up was Trooper Bullock from Wes-Del Jr./Sr. High School, and the second runner-up was Mahathi Raju, a student at Yorktown Middle School.
WIPB will broadcast the regional bee at 9 a.m. March 14 and 8 p.m. March 19 on WIPB.
Pronouncer was BSU English professor Lynne Stallings. Judges were Stephanie Wiechmann, host of Indiana Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” and Felicia Gray, first grade teacher at Burris Laboratory School and a 2019 PBS Kids Learning Champion. Recorder was Lori Georgi, content director for WIPB.
Ball State University Teachers College generously contributed the funds to cover the Scripps fees for all of the schools to participate. Roy Weaver, interim dean of the college was on hand to watch the competition and congratulate the winners.
Top presenting sponsor of the 2020 WIPB Spelling Bee is Family Vision Care. Presenting sponsor is MutualBank. Other supporting sponsors include Boyce Systems, Avila Orthodontics; Dr. Leland C. Wilhoite, DDS. Our Speller Shirts Sponsor are the employees of Navient and bags for our spellers are being provided by the Indiana Academy for Science, Mathematics, and Humanities. Several area businesses also donated prizes to go inside the speller swag bags.
A Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) affiliate, WIPB-TV is licensed to Ball State University and serves nearly 1.5 million people in east central Indiana and western Ohio. WIPB endeavors to educate, entertain and engage the communities we serve through distinctive television programs and enriching community engagement. For more information call 800-252-9472 or visit WIPB online at http://www.wipb.org.
