What do caribou, acronym and eclectic have in common?

Well, nothing really, but they were words the top junior high spellers from Pierce County had to tackle.

Eight students – six from Rugby and two from Wolford – took part in the annual county spelling bee on Feb. 24 in Rugby.

The students took a 40-word written spelling test followed by a 10-word oral test.

This year’s bee winner was Rugby seventh grader Zach Miller. Runner-up was Wolford eighth grader Tonya Slaubaugh. Both will represent the county at the state spelling bee in Bismarck on March 26. Zach is the son of Chad and Shannon Miller, Rugby; and Tonya is the daughter of Denton and Betty Slaubaugh, Wolford.

Other participants included: Rugby eighth graders Amber Jaeger, Bridger Putnam, Alyssa Mattern and seventh graders Kylie Scherr and Hannah Voeller and Wolford seventh grader Rylan Graber.

The students first took an in-school spelling test and the top students moved qualified for the county bee.