By Shirley Gorman

SDN News Editor

After going 18 rounds in Snyder ISD’s spelling bee Tuesday, Monica Clanton was anything but miserable -- the word she spelledcorrectly to win the 2004 competition held in the Fine Arts Theatre at Western Texas College.

Clanton was one of eight spellers representing East, Northeast, West and Snyder Junior High. Clanton, who won the sixth grade bee last month, is the daughter of Monte and Anne Clanton.

The first and second place spellers at each campus were eligible for Tuesday morning’s contest.

Eighth grader J.W. Wesson, son of Jay and Tammy Wesson, was the runner-up. Wesson also won the junior high bee on Jan. 29.

Tuesday competitors were a thoughtful group who listened carefully to word pronunciations and asked for definitions as they sought to understand the words.

In the first round, two spellers tripped over “multitude” and “sheaf.” No one missed in round two, but “domino” eliminated a speller in the third round.

In round four, a speller missed “anthropology.” Spellers survived rounds five and six but “decisive” eliminated one in the seventh round.

Students correctly spelled words for the next five rounds until “tantalize” eliminated one in the 13th round. By round 17, only Wesson and Clanton remained.

According to the two-speller rule, if one speller missed a word, then the other speller had to spell it correctly plus a new word to win. If both misspelled a word, they both continued to spell.

The bee continued after Wesson and Clanton both misspelled “recurs.”

In round 18, Wesson misspelled “winsome.” Clanton spelled it correctly plus “miserable” to win. She will advance to regional bee slated for March 6 at the Texas Tech Cultural Center.

Tyson Sullenger and Ashleigh Falcon were the top spellers at East Elementary. Sullenger, the son of Greg and Brenda Sullenger, won East’s bee on Feb. 6. Falcon, the runner-up, is the daughter of Teresa Falcon and Terry Anderson.

Northeast Elementary’s top spellers were Nicole Molter and Stevie Dauphin. Molter, who won first place in the campus bee on Jan. 30, is the daughter of Mike and Liffin Molter. Runner-up Dauphin is the son of J.B. Cline and Amber Lyle.

Besides Clanton, Jonathan Kerr also represented West Elementary. Kerr was the runner-up in the Jan. 29 campus bee. He is the son of Thomas and Carol Kerr.

In addition to Wesson, James Simmons also spelled for the junior high. Runner-up in the Jan. 29 campus bee, he is the son of James and Celissa Simmons.

For the SISD bee, Dr. Edward Barkowsky served as the dictionary and recording judge. Rebekah Thornton pronounced the words. Judges were Carolyn Osborn, Ruth Richburg and Julie Sentell.

Rod Cottrell, SISD executive director of curriculum and instruction, coordinated the annual spell-off and presented medals to all spellers.