ROANOKE TIMES  
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, March 30, 1997                 TAG: 9703310085
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: B-1  EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON THE ROANOKE TIMES
MEMO: ***CORRECTION***
      Published correction ran on April 1, 1997.
         Courtney Olson's hometown was wrong in a story Sunday about her 
      winning the regional spelling bee. She was Giles County's representative
      at the bee and is a seventh-grader at Macy McClaugherty Elementary 
      Middle School in Pearisburg.
      
      ***CORRECTION***
      Published correction ran on March 31, 1997.
      Pam Olson's last name was incorrect in a story Sunday about the  
      regional spelling bee. Her daughter, Courtney Olson, won the event.

AGAIN, SHE'S BOUND TO VISIT D.C. FOR A SPELL FOR WINNER, STRAWBERRIES THE SECRET OF HER SUCCESS

Courtney Olson, 12, is Southwest Virginia's top speller for the second straight year. She's headed to the national bee in Washington in May.

A strawberry-loving Dublin girl who plays chess and violin became Southwest Virginia's top speller for the second year in a row at the region's official bee Saturday in Roanoke.

Courtney Olson, 12, is headed to the national bee in Washington, D.C., later this spring. She ate strawberries before Saturday's event, and it's a good bet she will eat them again in the nation's capital. Her mom thinks they help her spelling.

The bee was between the top spellers from 18 school systems. It was sponsored by The Roanoke Times.

A spectator's gallery at the Clarion Hotel Roanoke Airport was filled with families as the contestants warmed up by spelling easy, seasonal words such as tulip, sunshine and bunny.

The nine girls and nine boys, in fifth through eighth grades, had studied thousands of words. The spelling-bee words were picked from a study booklet and included:

Cardiomegaly, a six-syllable medical term for an enlarged heart, which stumped Lauren Kennedy of Salem. She took third place.

Prevaricate, meaning to evade the truth, which Christopher Barbatti of Radford spelled correctly. He took second place.

Otitis, a type of ear problem, which Courtney spelled to win.

If these examples sound like brain teasers, consider this: Two college professors and a college department head followed a key as they judged the event. The spellers were allowed no props. They listened to each word pronounced and, if they wished, defined and used in a sentence, then they had to spell it as 60 people watched.

The stage was set with 18 chairs and a microphone. Spellers, in order, were allowed one try per spelling word; no backing up was allowed. Spellers who got their words right sat back down until the next round; spellers left the stage if they made an error.

As the clock ticked, the words grew more difficult and the surviving spellers were surrounded by more and more vacant seats. The top three went at least eight rounds without a mistake, however. Then, Christopher slipped on "perjury," misspelling it "pergury."

Only the two girls remained. Courtney spelled "malediction." Lauren was tripped up, however, by "cardiomegaly," because she added an extra L. That made Courtney the winner.

Asked later to assess their own performance, a few spellers called their errors silly mistakes. Jessica Stein, 13, of Botetourt County goofed on "appalling" but said she knew the word. She plans to compete again next year. "I just wasn't thinking," she said. "I'm still happy with myself because I got this far."

"I was very nervous," said Bethany Jones, 12, of Roanoke. She was stumped by "stratified," which she misspelled "stratefied."

Parents felt the pressure on the kids from their seats in the audience.

"It was extremely nerve-wracking," said Leon Dalton, father of contestant Erich Dalton of Dublin.

Courtney's second win in the regional bee qualified her for a repeat appearance at the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in May. She'll compete against about 200 kids from around the country. In 1996, she placed midway in the pack, getting eliminated on "catechism."

"It's a lot of fun" going to the capital, she said. "You go on tours around Washington, have a barbecue and some dances. Since I've been studying so hard, I'm really happy."

She said she had studied since December. She had to get up early Saturday to make the 90-minute drive to Roanoke. Leading up to the contest, she ate strawberries, to which her mom attributes therapeutic qualities. "The scent of strawberry improves your intellectual functioning," Pam Powell said.

LENGTH: Medium:   88 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  CINDY PINKSTON/THE ROANOKE TIMES. Courtney Olson beams  
          as the audience applauds her win in The Roanoke Times Regional  
          Spelling Bee. color.