Posted 2/28/01 Spelling Beeís ëantennaeí pick a winner at Rush City competition Feb. 26 Can you spell ëantennaeí? Rush City eighth grader Jacob Schmidt can, and he did so to successfully win the Spelling Bee competition Monday, Feb. 26 in Rush City. The event lasted 17 rounds, as the 23 participants in fifth through eighth grades tried to correctly spell words like hesitant, coalition, foray, siege, nectarine, rhythm, posse and stentorian. In the end, two participants- eighth graders Asha Saari and Jacob Schmidt- dueled it out for seven rounds, before Schmidt emerged as the Spelling Bee champion. He correctly spelled the word ëantennaeí to emerge as the winner. They each received a trophy for their efforts. Both Schmidt and Saari will now advance to the Regional Spelling Bee March 12 at St. Johnís University in Collegeville. The winner of that event will go on to participate in the State Spelling Bee April 3 at St. Johnís. Second through fourth graders will participate in a Spelling Bee Mar. 1 at the high school. Other participants in the Feb. 26 Spelling Bee included: fifth grade- Alex Alcock, Chenoa Fields, Hannah Johnston, Meghan Peterson, Emily Piel, Blake Rustad, Melissa Shoemaker; sixth grade- Nick Becker, Jessica Gebert, Amber Hoffman, Jeremy Marty, Bethany Peters, Justine Prettner, Ashley Quitberg, Glenn Weidendorf, Laura Gamache, Krystina Lange, Elizabeth Melin, Alison Kay, Danielle Nelson, and Katie LaBelle. ©Post Review