In just two rounds, Lipsey’s representative at the Lincoln County Spelling Bee took home first place at the Lincoln County Spelling Bee.

Sixth-grader Pierce Legg won with the word cabal. Cabal is a secret political clique or faction. Legg was the only speller to make it to round two.

Other representatives present were Dalton Thames, an eighth-grader at Bogue Chitto, Jessi Rippy, a sixth-grader at Enterprise, and Anna McKenzie, a second-grader at West Lincoln.

Legg will go on to compete in the state competition on March 17 at 10 a.m. in the Mississippi Public Broadcasting Building.

To ensure a fair bee, the county organizers are sent a list of words. The list is locked away until the day of the competition. The announcer viewed the list just before the competition to ensure proper pronunciation. All words are then called in the same order as they appear on the list.

At the conclusion of the contest, the competitors were reminded that they were all winners to have made it this far in the contest.