LOXLEY, Alabama — Baldwin County has a new champion speller. Fletcher Ard of Elberta Middle School out-spelled a field of 35 hopefuls to claim the 2016 Baldwin County Spelling Bee Championship Thursday, Feb. 4 at the Loxley Civic Center.

A total of 36 qualifiers from Baldwin County’s elementary, intermediate and middle public schools, plus qualifiers from Bayside Academy in Daphne, Bayshore Christian in Fairhope and Central Christian School in Robertsdale, earned the right to compete for the title of Baldwin County’s top speller. One competitor was unable to attend.

A total of 115 words were spelled through the 14 rounds of competition, said program coordinator Becky Turner, consulting teacher with the Baldwin County School System’s Elementary Education Department.

The field was almost cut in half following the first two rounds of competition with seven spellers eliminated in the first round and 10 more in the second, narrowing the field to 18.

The field was cut to 10 following the third round of competition with eight more spellers eliminated by the seventh round, leaving just two – Ard and Central Christian Student Mikaela Boecher –  left.

Joah Simmons of Spanish Fort Elementary was allowed to reenter the competition after there was a protest filed over the pronunciation of the word “lethargy,” but he would be eliminated from the competition on the word “maestro.”

After eight rounds between them, Boecher misspelled the word “meticulous” opening the door for Ard to win the competition. After confusion over the pronunciation of the word elixir, Ard would correctly spell the word “patel” to claim the championship.

This was the third straight year of competition for both Ard and Boecher.

Ard will represent Baldwin County in the state competition, which is sponsored by Adventure Travel, March 12 at Alabaster First United Methodist Church in Shelby County near Birmingham, with Boecher as an alternate should Ard not be able to attend the competition.

Winners from state competition advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee which will be held in May in National Harbor, Maryland, near Washington, D.C.

The nationally televised event is sponsored by the G.W. Scripps Company, based in Cincinnati. Its website, spellingbee.com, lists winners dating back to 1925.

Other competitors were: Jackson Paul, Bay Minette Elementary; Jillian Dute, Bay Minette Intermediate; Ariel White, Bay Minette Middle;  Cassidy Granger, Bayshore Christian; Evelyn Prickett, Bayside Academy; Zoe Meadors, Central Baldwin Middle; Tyler Tate, Daphne East Elementary; Bella Lochrico, Daphne Middle; Anne Nelson, Delta Elementary; Charlier Woerner, Elberta Elementary; Kirsten Holston, Elsanor School; Isabella Tran, Fairhope Intermediate; Peyton Suits, Fairhope Middle; Latisha Rivers, Foley Elementary; Kassey Merchant, Foley Intermediate; John Pratt, Foley Middle; Amily Tiffany, Gulf Shores Elementary; Kayde Andrews, J. Larry Newton; Katie Miller, Loxley Elementary; Dylan Spivey, Magnolia School; Grace McGowan, Orange Beach Elementary; John Wesley Jenks, Perdido; Lyric Knight, Pine Grove Elementary; Caleb Wilson, Robertsdale Elementary; Brenden Provencher, Rockwell; Montana Hance, Rosinton; Kristen Kaylor, Silverhill; Natalie Tidd, Spanish Fort Middle; Persephonie Milligan, Spanish Fort Middle; Ashlyn Boehm, Summerdale; Marley Hunter, Swift; and Lauren Thompson, W.J. Carroll Intermediate. Bailey Helms of Gulf Shores Elementary qualified for the competition, but was unable to attend.

Baldwin County’s Catholic Schools compete with Mobile County schools in district competition to qualify for the state bee and are not included with the other schools.