The thrill of V-I-C-T-O-R-Y

It didn’t take long for the field of 58 spelling bee competitors to shrink down to just eight Friday afternoon in the TSC Sunburst Lounge.

Adam Dunn, a graduate student in history, had trouble with “cyanosis.”

Josh Schultz, a senior in business, tripped up on “asyndeton.”

Even Tracy Lund, last year’s spelling bee champion, couldn’t quite get “brochette” right.

“It’s frustrating,” she said. “I really wanted to win another computer.”

But it was Benjamin Green, a December graduate in English, who took home the Dell desktop computer Friday by spelling “coquetry,” a word that means “playful behavior intended to arouse sexual behavior,” according to www.dictionary.com.

Green and runner-up Paul Romney sparred with each other for several rounds of Valentine-themed words such as “bonhomie,” “pizzicato” and “epithalamion,” before Timothy slipped on “coquetry” and Green did not.

“I feel pretty good,” Green said after winning. “You probably want a really big word though. I feel exuberant.”

Green said growing up in Santa Clara, he competed in spelling bees throughout grade school and middle school. He said he used to read the dictionary for entertainment.

The spelling bee words were delivered by Mark Damen, Susan Shapiro, Frances Titchener and Ronna Jensen, all of whom are professors in the classics department.

Romney took home an iPod for his efforts and other top-eight finishers walked off stage with prizes ranging from George Foreman grills to Sponge Bob placemats.

“Two years ago we gave away prizes to everyone,” Al Lambert said. “This year we gave out Valentine’s candy and food. We concentrated on giving really great prizes to the finalists.”

While the numbers of competitors were down from an estimated 80-90 participants last year, spelling bee organizers said they were pleased with the event.

“We had a good turnout,” Spencer Watts said. “This is just so everyone can have fun. There aren’t a whole lot of academic competitions on campus.”

– acf@cc.usu.edu

Runner-up Paul Romney reacts to misspelling a word during Friday’s spelling bee.