BENTON HARBOR — It was fitting that the final word Brett Tutton had to spell correctly was “oust.”

By doing so, the Grace Christian School student ousted the last remaining competitor to win the Cloverleaf Spelling Bee Monday at Lake Michigan College’s Napier Campus.

Tutton wins more than $2,000 in cash and prizes, including a trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Monday’s competition featured 60 area students who had qualified for the Cloverleaf Spelling Bee by finishing third or better at their school district’s spelling bee.

Students from Niles’ Ring Lardner Middle School faired the best among schools in the Niles Daily Star’s readership area.

Ring Lardner’s Morgan Altergott finished 14th, while Chelsea Best was 16th and Wahsnoday Pamp 52nd.

Altergott and Best both bowed out in the fifth round. Altergott misspelled “pasteurize” and Best “troika.”

Best advanced to the fifth round by correctly spelling “entourage,” while Altergott moved on by spelling “eclectic.”

Buchanan Middle School’s Michelle Dykstra finished 33rd, Robert Fay Jr., 37th and Alexis Carrigan 46th.

Brandywine Elementary School’s Jacob Miller was 36th, while Elizabeth Hartz took 51st and Madelynn Fietzek 60th.

Altergott and Best received gift certificates to Pizza Hut for finishing in the top 20.

After more than three hours, the field of 60 had been whittled down to two — Tutton and fellow classmate Jeremy Johnson.

Johnson misspelled “waggery”, giving Tutton the opportunity to spell the word correctly. Tutton spelled it right and then correctly spelled “oust” to win the spelling bee.