Onalaska’s Ali Abidi leads the way out of five students from La Crosse area competing in state spelling bee

Five students from the La Crosse area competed Saturday in Madison, representing Onalaska, Holmen, and Fountain City, for a chance to get to the National Spelling Bee.

Onalaska Middle student Ali Abidi got as far as the sixth round. They qualified for state by taking the top spots at a regional spelling bee last month in West Salem.

Three of those area spellers will be eligible to return next year.

Two 8th grade students out of 50 spellers qualified for the National Spelling Bee, after taking the top two places in the Badger State Bee.

The overall bee winner, Aiden Wijeyakulasuriya from Madison, also won the state title last year. Second place went to Nethraa Muthupandiyaraja of Franklin, Wis.

The two will compete in the national contest in Washington, D.C., in May. Both students are 8th graders and are in their last year of competition under national bee rules.

Wijeyakulasuriya’s final winning word in Madison was “prescience,” meaning the ability to predict the future.

The state contest was held in the Mitby Theater at Madison College on Saturday. For the first time, organizers of the bee held a tailgate party in a parking lot near the theater for spellers, family, and friends.