Quandary.

A noun.

A state of perplexity or uncertainty over what to do in a difficult situation.

“Mark is in a quandary over what to do with the money that he found in the park.”

It’s also the word that won George Komure eight-grader Wisher Tabaco the Manteca Unified School District for the fifth year in a row.

Yes, Tabaco knows his way around the American lexicon. From the first time that he signed up to participate, Tabaco – who’s soft-spoken and deliberate and exudes a quiet confidence – has taken home the trophy each and every year that he has participated.

He swept the fourth through sixth grade classes, and on Thursday night took another step towards finishing the clean-sweep of the district’s spelling bee offerings by missing only a single word and nailing the nearly two-dozen before it that proved to be a murderer’s row for the other 20 participants.

Hydrangea.

Metamorphosis.

Acme.

Heinous.

In the end it was just Tabaco and Manteca High School freshman Solman Aniss trading off on words until one of them missed the allotted two. They both missed Quandary, but it was only the first miss for Tabaco which sent him home with his fifth trophy in as many tries.

“I had a lot of fun with the other contestants and I really like spelling and learning about it,” Tabaco said. “It’s a great feeling knowing that you made it through a spelling bee. All I was trying to do was my best.”

Both Tabaco and Aniss will join Joseph Widmer 8th grader Joshua Vargas at the San Joaquin County Office of Education spelling bee where they will try and earn a spot to become one of the best spellers in the State of California.

Last year Tabaco finished in fifth place and is hoping that he’s able to crack the lineup to go on against the best in the field from throughout The Golden State.

“My dad helped me with a lot of words and this really helped me this year,” Tabaco said. “I’ll just go out there again and do my best and hopefully it’s something that I can continue doing.”

Joining him in taking home a trophy was Mossdale Elementary School sixth grader Emily Banh, who managed to be the only one to answer the word correctly in a round that still contained most of the participants.

Miscellaneous.

Austere.

Emollient.

Crotchety.

One-by-one the students filed out of their respective seats until it was only Banh left answering correctly in that respective round. She too will go on to compete against other fourth-through-sixth graders from throughout San Joaquin County, and will be joined by New Haven’s Nickolas McConnell, who finished second, and Golden West’s Miles Lerma, who finished third.

“It’s fun,” Banh said of what she liked about being a part of the spelling bee – the first time that she has competed against the best wordsmiths the district has to offer. “Spelling is interesting to me and I practiced for this. I enjoyed it.”