VIDEO: Two Northfield Middle School Students Have Chance at National Spelling Bee

Two Northfield Middle School students are only a handful of words away from a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete against the country's best young spellers.

Olivia Riggins and Hannah Mahr, both eighth-graders at the middle school, advanced from the school spelling bee to compete in Rochester last week. Olivia finished second and Hannah finished sixth at that competition, good for both of them to return on Feb. 28 for the final round of the regional spelling bee.

The winner of the event advances to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which is May 29.

"Nationals would be a huge deal for me because I'm not usually in sports and I feel like it'd be a huge accomplishment," Hannah said.

Both said they studied by going over words and learning patterns for words from certain languages.

This is Olivia's third time competing in the regional spelling bee. Hannah was an alternate twice before making it to regionals this year.

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