HV youth, 12, wins R-S Bee

Spelling champion:
Shocked at his correct answer, Liam Twight, 12, of Happy Valley, said he wasn’t expecting to get the last two words — “embrasure” and “kinkaSee Spelling Bee, Page A-4. jou” — right to win the spelling bee.

Pacheco Elementary School sixth-grader Liam Twight won the 11th Annual Record Searchlight Spelling Bee at Sequoia Middle School in Redding on Saturday, March 7.

Liam, 12, of Happy Valley, correctly spelled the words "embrasure" - an opening for a door or window - and "kinkajou" - a nocturnal, tree-dwelling carnivore - to take home the title.

One could argue it was Liam Twight's knowledge and curiosity about animals that propelled him to the winning title.

"When I was 5 or 6, I used to look at all these animal books ... I was glad I was given that word," an emotionally drained Liam said.

Before spelling his winning word, Liam was tested with "embrasure," a word that means an opening with sides flaring outward in a wall. Liam said he was stumped.

"I just made an educated guess and put the pieces together," Liam said.

So Liam was relieved to get the word "kinkajou" for the victory. In fact, when the word was announced, Liam let out a gleeful "Oh."

"He knows animals; that's his thing. He's a whiz with animals," a beaming Karen Twight, Liam's mother, said afterward.

Competing in the regional spelling bee for his third time, Liam upset defending champion Bethany Strom, 13, an eighth-grader from Berrendos Middle School in Red Bluff, who tied for second place this year with James McDaniels, 13, a seventh-grader from Plumas Charter School in Portola. Bethany was the 2008 regional spelling bee champion.

"It's amazing, I never thought I'd be up there with such elite spellers," Liam said.

Though she didn't defend her title, Bethany felt good about her performance and wished Liam the best.

She also gave the new champ some advice for the upcoming national spelling bee to be held in Washington, D.C.

"Don't hibernate. Go out and enjoy yourself," Bethany said.

"I thought Bethany Strom would win. I was just aiming to finish in the top three," said Liam, who said he finished "10th or 11th" at last year's Record Searchlight Spelling Bee. "It's really cool to win and exceed my own expectations."

Liam won in the eleventh round. He out-spelled 34 other students from Shasta, Tehama, Siskiyou, Trinity, Modoc, Lassen, Humbolt, Glenn, Plumas, Butte and Del Norte counties who competed at McLaughlin Auditorium on the campus of Sequoia Middle School in Redding.

"This is big," Liam commented after the competition. Among the words that Liam spelled correctly were: lithe, hypothesis, cavalry, staccato, demotic, visceral, kohlrabi, pfeffernuss, raconteur and lahar.

For his efforts, Liam wins an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., for the 82nd annual Scripps National Spelling Bee set for May 26-28. He also won a $500 savings bond from Bank of America, $100 in cash from the Record Searchlight and "a host of other prizes," said Michelle Martin Streeby, convergence director for the Redding newspaper that hosted the event.