Ope Balogun, of Shawnee, smiles after winning the 2024 The Lima News Regional Spelling Bee on Tuesday night at the UNOH Event Center.
David Trinko | The Lima News
LIMA — Ope Balogun finally smiled and relaxed a little bit.
“Thwartwise,” she said, before calmly saying each letter in the word, which means “extending or lying across” or “in a crosswise direction.”
With that, Balogun won the 2024 The Lima News Regional Spelling Bee on Tuesday night, topping 37 other qualifiers. The eighth-grader at Shawnee Middle School, who also won in 2023, earned a return trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, scheduled for May 26-May 31 in Washington, D.C.
She also won a one-year subscription to Merriam-Webster online and a one-year membership to Britannica Online Premium.
The event, held at the UNOH Event Center, was sponsored by Superior Credit Union, with Nutrien as the award sponsor.
Tuesday’s win was a payoff for plenty of time studying. She spent an hour each weekday and two hours each weekend. She said winning last year didn’t really calm her nerves this time around.
“I think I have the same kind of nervousness because there’s so much riding on this,” she said.
Balogun, the daughter of Lekan and Destiny Balogun, sat in the No. 2 chair with 38 qualifiers in the event, meaning she mostly waited each of the eight rounds before hearing her next word. The second-place finisher, Ada’s Maeby Alger, happened to be sitting to her right in the No. 1 seat, with chairs alphabetically placed based on a person’s last name.
Alger, an eighth-grader who is the daughter of Nick and Jennifer Alger, bowed out of the competition by spelling “declamatory” wrong. She got a laugh from the crowd during a practice round when she seemed puzzled by the word “green” before realizing the words were intentionally easy. She looked more comfortable as she spelled her next seven words right.
“It was so hard!” she said, giggling. “… It feels really good. I still can’t believe I did it.”
Other stumpers included genealogical, caramel and iceberg.
Third place went to Noah Esser, of Anna Elementary School.
Balogun said she enjoyed meeting new people at last year’s spelling bee.
“I feel very excited that I get another chance to back there,” she said.
Reach David Trinko at 567-242-0467 or on Twitter @Lima_Trinko.
