A determined Cayden Merryman kept chipping away and correctly spelled “whittled” to win the 2025 Senatobia Elementary School Spelling Bee.
Merryman, a fifth grader and the son of Brandi Bates and the late Andrew Merryman, said he was nervous while facing off against 30 other students in his first spelling bee Thursday, Oct. 23.
“After I made it through the first two rounds, I felt a little better,” he said.
The victory wasn’t an easy one.
Merryman and fellow fifth grader Rylie Marshall were the last two standing after five rounds when Beau Brister, who placed third, misspelled “deferential.”
Neither Merryman nor Marshall could capitalize on opportunities to eliminate the other in the back-and-forth marathon championship round.
Both had difficulties with words such as “talcum”, “equestrian”, “prestigious”, “guttural”, “Frankenstein”, “gallant”, and “chartreuse”.
But Merryman took advantage of an opportunity in the 16th round when Marshall misspelled “dirge”. He carefully sounded out each letter and did the same with his championship word “whittled” to claim the title.
Although he enjoys spelling, Merryman said he likes other subjects better.
“Math and history are my favorites. I am really good at math,” he explained.
Merryman also enjoys playing virtual reality games, building with Legos and reading in his spare time.
