Photo courtesy of SWWC Marshall eighth grader Charles Mueller-Thompson stands with his first place trophy at the SWWC Regional Spelling Bee in Redwood Falls last Thursday.

MARSHALL — Marshall eighth grader Charles Mueller-Thompson is headed to the 100th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee after winning first place at the SWWC Regional Spelling Bee in Redwood last Thursday.

“I was really surprised,” Mueller-Thompson said. “I didn’t think I was going to win the oral and written rounds.”

The regional competition brought in 29 students from 25 school districts, who all went through written and oral rounds to try to earn a spot in the top-15 spelldown. This year however, 17 students advanced to the spelldown due to a tie.

The spellers first went through a written round, followed with oral rounds.

“We were all sent into the side room, and there were spectators,” Mueller-Thompson said about the written round. “It was all quiet, and we had 25 questions on a sheet and we had to listen, then they would use it in the sentence, and we wrote it down like a regular spelling test.”

SWWC Service Cooperative Andrea Anderson served as the competition’s head judge, joined by judges Gail Polejewski and Laurie Fales. Eriann Faris was the pronouncer.

After the written and oral rounds, the judges combined scores to determine what spellers would move on.

“They do three oral rounds, where we don’t tell them if it’s correct or incorrect. They just spell words,” Anderson said. “We mark it down as judges, then we go and tally the written scores and the oral scores of what they got. Then, the top 15 usually go on, but this year we had 17 because there was a tie.”

There were a handful of other area students that advanced into the spelldown round, including sixth grader Miles Jans from Lakeview Public School, seventh grader Alayna Ehrenberg from Dawson-Boyd Stevens Elementary, seventh grader Griffin Livermore from Canby Public and seventh grader Scotty Broeckel from Murray County Central.

The competition continued with six rounds of the spelldown between the 17 students, which was eventually narrowed down to the three finalists in Mueller-Thompson, seventh grader Vera Prouty from Southwest Minnesota Christian School and seventh grader Ethan Dieken from MACCRAY Secondary School.

“When there were like 10 people left, I was shaking and my teeth were chattering,” Mueller-Thompson said.

After a few more spelldown rounds, Dieken was awarded third place, Prouty claimed second and Mueller-Thomspon was crowned champion, officially punching his ticket to the Scripps national competition.

For regional bees, the top three spellers are given trophies, but only first place earns a spot in nationals.

“It (the spelldown) was super nerve wracking because you have all the parents watching you, and then you have to go up in front, the podium is a distance away from the spelling bee people,” Mueller-Thompson said. “Then the spectators and the judges, they would tell you your word. You write it down, say the letters into the mic, but it was super nerve wracking.”

Meuller-Thompson’s winning word was “Episcopal,” and remembers walking up to try and clinch first place.

“My brain was goofing out. I had the letters written down, but I was just doing everything in my power to say those letters and not trip up,” Mueller-Thompson said. “I was just trying as hard as I could. I was super nervous, I kept getting distracted by everything.”

Mueller-Thompson had high praise for his fellow peers that made the top three.

“I thought that the person who ended up getting second (Prouty) was going to beat me because she was really good,” Mueller-Thompson said. “The guy who got third (Dieken), we ended up seeing results from the written and oral rounds, and he was first and tied me. He was really good.”

This was Mueller-Thompson’s second time participating at regionals, and first got into competitive spelling through school spelling bees.

“We have to take (spelling) tests, and then in fifth grade, I got told I got in [to a school spelling bee],” Mueller-Thompson said. “I got crushed in the school spelling bee, but I got in every year and eventually I won.”

Mueller-Thompson said he prepares for spelling bees with the Word Club App, which is from Scripps, and will study a couple hours a day.

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is celebrating its 100th anniversary at this year’s competition, which originally began in 1925. The Scripps’ program is open to students who have not yet turned 16 years old, or graduated from eighth grade, and must be from schools that are enrolled with Scripps.

Mueller-Thompson and his parents will now represent Marshall and the region at the national competition May 27-29 at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.

Rounds will be split up between the days.

“In the preliminaries, you have 28 words written, then 12 vocabulary questions. But, at nationals, you’re all in a big room with everyone. It’s not like where you go into a separate room,” Mueller-Thompson said. “Everyone gets one word at the mic where you sit, your name is called up, and you answer one word in front of the whole crowd.”

In last year’s competition, there were 245 participants, the program’s largest outcome since 2019.

“The 29th is the semifinals and finals, which will show on ESPN,” Mueller-Thompson said excitedly. “My goal is to make it to the quarterfinals and get past the preliminaries.”