Matt Pritt of Fairland took top honors Friday at the annual Lawrence County Spelling Bee.

Saturday, January 13, 2001

Matt Pritt of Fairland took top honors Friday at the annual Lawrence County Spelling Bee.

The young Pritt spelled "optician" and "promenade" in the 11th round to win the first place trophy.

"I’ve been working on this for a few months," Pritt said after an awards ceremony in which he was given a four-foot trophy with a bumble bee on it. "I expected to do well, but I don’t know if I expected to win."

He was runner-up in last year’s spelling bee.

Ten students from Lawrence County schools took part in the spelling bee, held at the county courthouse and sponsored by the Lawrence County Educational Service Center.

Two students each represented Dawson-Bryant, Fairland, Rock Hill, South Point and Symmes Valley.

The practice round started with easier words like "joyous" and "tiptoed," but subsequent rounds quickly progressed to harder words like "hematoma" and "reformatory."

Pronouncer Ernie Anderson kept the audience entertained with one-liners in between spelling words.

"If you miss a word, the microphones shoot out slime, just like Double Dare, that TV show on Nickelodeon," Anderson told them before starting the practice.

Anna Keffer of South Point took runner-up in the spelling bee.

The participants were: Lindsey Wilson and Aubrey Adkins, Dawson-Bryant; Pritt and Erin Marchese, Fairland; Taelor Haynes and Candice Chaffins, Rock Hill; Keffer and Ashley Howell, South Point; Kirt Shipley and Erica Myers, Symmes Valley.