Three Carbon County Students to Compete at Scripps National Spelling Bee

Photos by Liz Bryner

A passion for education and spelling has brought together three former Creekview Chiefs once again. Garrett and Pierce Bryner, sons of Christian and Liz Bryner, are local twins that have competed in many spelling bees over the years. Lexy Webster, daughter of Dustin and Lauren Webster, has competed in a large number of competitions as well. The three students have often competed against one another.

Webster won the Creekview bee two years in a row, thus edging out the Bryner twins. However, after Webster moved to Elk Ridge, it was doubtful that the trio would face off anymore. As fate would have it, this is not the case. Webster and the Bryner twins will meet up once again as they compete at the highest level, representing Utah at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Furthermore, for the first time in the 91 years of the spelling bee, twins have an opportunity of competing together on the national level. While hundreds of twins have undoubtedly competed in the past years, they have competed alone without the possibility of being on stage with their twin. However, the Bryner twins have qualified for just that opportunity.

This year, the boys will be together on the national level. Garrett qualified by coming out triumphant in the Southeast Regional Spelling Bee. This means that he will attend with a chaperone gratis due to the Southeast Service Center that generously sponsors the event yearly. In the past, only winners from sponsored regions could attend. This precluded the possibility of twins sharing the experience.

This year, due to the unequal distribution of sponsorships, Scripps launched a new RSVBee pathway to nationals. This enables students to apply who have won their local school bee. From there, a point system applies to applicants, favoring those who have previously attended the national bee and those who are closer to aging-out of the opportunity. Pierce met these qualifications due to being in eighth grade and winning the Mont Harmon Middle School Bee. Pierce was one of 225 students invited to attend out of 856 who applied.

Webster is also qualified to compete at the national level. After moving to Utah County, she won her school bee at Salem Junior High for the past two years. Webster also competed well in the Northern Utah Regional bee, placing third. While this is a high placing, it still did not qualify her for nationals. However, also being in the eighth grade and submitting a timely application to RSVBee, Webster has been invited to attend as well.

All three students will participate in Bee Week from Sunday, May 27 to Friday, June 1. The preliminary oral rounds may be viewed on May 29 and May 30 on ESPN 3. The finals will take place Thursday, May 31 live at 6:30 p.m. on ESPN.