By JUDY SHERARD

jsherard@dailynews.net

It took more than six rounds to determine which of the three finalists would be the winner of the 56th annual Ellis County Spelling Bee on Tuesday night.

Luis Blanco, a Felten Middle School eighth-grader, was named the winner.

He outlasted Eric Adams, Felten sixth-grader, and Brad Wallace, a seventh-grade student at Washington Elementary School in Ellis.

It was a move up the ladder for Adams, a veteran at the county bee (four trips) who had tied for third last year as a fifth-grader at Wilson Elementary School.

Blanco was all smiles holding the trophy afterward as he posed for a photo with his parents, Humberto and Vilma Blanco. He also posed for a photo and received congratulations from Craig Pallister, Felten's principal.

The traveling trophy will sit in a place of honor at Felten until next year.

Luis' performance returned the trophy to Felten for the first time since 2009 after students from Kennedy Middle School won the last two county bees.

Blanco, who competed last year, said he spent some time practicing, but being good at spelling seems to come naturally.

Two sisters, Clara Crawford, a fourth-grader, and Samantha Crawford, a sixth-grader, represented St. Mary Grade School in Ellis.

Samantha had finished second and Clara third in the school competition.

"It worked out perfectly, since Samantha is older," said their mother, Kimberly Andries.

Lucas Mader, a fifth-grader at O'Loughlin Elementary School, studied a list of words, said his mother, Linda Mader.

"Spelling comes easy for him, but some of the words were hard," she said.

A total of 38 students in grades four through eight were listed on the program, representing the Hays USD 489 elementary and middle schools and Washington Elementary and St. Mary Grade in Ellis.

The audience was filled with family and friends offering encouragement to the youngsters.

Brenda Meder served as the pronouncer for the competition, sponsored by the National Student Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

This was Meder's first year as pronouncer.

The challenge was to pronounce the words clearly without over-enunciating, she said.

Veronica Critchfield and Shayne Perkovich served as coordinators this year.

"The event doesn't just happen. It takes a lot of planning," Meder said.

"They start working on it in November," said Fred Britten, the organization's adviser.