GUILFORD – An eighth-grader at SeDoMoCha Middle School beat 14 other top spellers Wednesday to capture the Piscataquis County Spelling Bee.

Melissa MacAlister of Dover-Foxcroft correctly spelled “preliminary”‘ and “muchacha,” a Spanish word for girl, to win the county bee held at Piscataquis Community Middle School.

She will now represent the county at the state spelling bee on March 24 at Eastern Maine Technical College in Bangor, sponsored by the Bangor Daily News.

Placing second in the spelling bee was Robert Jackson of Charleston, a seventh-grader at SeDoMoCha Middle School. He correctly spelled “circumstantial.”

Courtney Porter of Dover-Foxcroft, a sixth-grader at the same school, placed third in the competition.

The three top spellers received ribbons from the BDN for their performances.

Although all middle schools in the county were invited to participate, only Penquis Valley Middle School in Milo, SeDoMoCha and PCMS entered pupils into the competition.

The county spelling bee governor was Freda Gaw, a teacher at Piscataquis Community Middle School. Judges were Rochelle Titcomb and Brenda Tetlow, both teachers at PCMS, and Dianne McCarthy-Clark, a teacher at SeDoMoCha.