Kellen wins New Prague Spelling Bee

Joe Kellen, a sixth grader at St. Wenceslaus School, finished first in the New Prague District Spelling Bee Monday at the New Prague Middle School Auditorium.

Kellen correctly spelled the word ancient to win top honors. Corrie Lehner-Hansen finished second and Scott Allar was third.

Students in grades 5-8 qualified for the spelling bee by taking a test in school. The top students in each grade were invited to take part in the District Spelling Bee.

The top three students will advance to the Regional Spelling Bee in Mankato later this spring.

Those taking part in the spelling bee included:

Fifth grade: Korrin Dvorak, Kelsey Fiedler, Danny Huang, Katie Morris, Brandon Par, Justin Smasal, Abby Smith, Anna Solheid and Rena Weis;

Sixth grade: Tyler Heimerl, Alec Ilkka, Robert Kajer, Kellen, Mike Lunder, Kailee Oram, Alex Richter, Kaitlyn Schoenbauer, Ben Stepka and Rachel VonBank;

Seventh grade: Allar, Claire Flitsch, Jayme Prokes, Andrew Salaba and Joey Soderlund;

Eighth grade: Mike Boerner, Alec Bohn, Kyle Enfield, Travis Grindeland, Nick LaMoore, Lehner-Hanson, Brittany Prochaska, Anni Rezac and Nate Rosival.