By ADAM STEWART

Staff writer

“Cymbal, c-y-m-b-a-l, cymbal,” fifth-grader Brodie Rathbone said Thursday in the Hillsboro Elementary School spelling bee.

Correctly spelling the name of the brass percussion instrument gave Rathbone the school championship. Principal Evan Yoder gave him the definition — to differentiate it from “symbol” — before spelling it, but Rathbone didn’t need the definition.

“That’s the only cymbal I was thinking,” he said after the bee.

Rathbone and runner-up Taylor Helmer will compete in the Marion County Spelling Bee schedule for today at USD 408 Performing Arts Center in Marion. Fourth-grader Abby Driggers is the alternate.

They and 18 other students advanced to the school bee by winning or placing in class bees, Yoder said.

Most of the competitors advanced from the first round, but difficulty quickly increased. By the end of the third round, more than half of the competitors were eliminated by words that included “receipt,” “pantomime,” and “strenuous.”