'Chintz' clinches girl's second spelling title

Swan River word wizard earns her third trip to state

It might not be the world's most popular fabric, but on Friday, Laurel Sugden became a fan of "chintz."

When the Swan River School eighth-grader successfully spelled the word, she became two-time champion of the Flathead County Spelling Bee. Last year, she won with "parapet," an appropriate word to redeem her second-place finish the year before, when she was bogged down by "bayou."

Sugden is one of the state's powerhouse spellers. She will make her third trip in as many years to the Treasure State Spelling Bee at the University of Montana on March 28.

Last year, she finished sixth at state. The year before that, she came in fourth.

The secret to becoming a word wizard is studying, she said. Sugden studies from "Spell It!" - Scripps National Spelling Bee's official study booklet - which is available online.

Sugden said she was familiar with all the words she faced Friday. She did ask pronouncer Nancy Kimball for a few words' definitions, including "vulcanize" and "cryptic," but once she heard their meanings, Sugden easily and confidently spelled the words.

Twenty-nine fifth-, sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students from across the valley competed in the county spelling bee at Flathead High School on Friday afternoon. Eleven went down in the first round, tricked by silent vowels in "morgue" and "dearth" and finding the spelling of "fickle" an accurate example of the word's meaning.

Another eight spellers missed words in the second round. "Semantics," "trawl" and "bungalow" all proved too much for the students.

A handful of spellers left the stage in the next two rounds, defeated by "kahuna," "roughhewn" and "geta."

Round five began with four spellers, all of whom made it through. Breana Frank, a seventh-grader at Helena Flats School, was eliminated in round six when she was stumped by "raj."

"Mattock" knocked out Kalispell Middle School eighth-grader Alex Bondurant in the next round, leaving Sugden and Hugh Ramlow, a seventh-grader from Whitefish Middle School, to battle for the win. They breezed through rounds eight and nine, easily spelling "virtuosa," "Meistersinger," "piazza" and "intractable."

Then Ramlow missed 'suave." Sugden spelled "benevolent" to win the round, but she still had to spell one more word to win the bee. If she misspelled it, she and Ramlow would go another round.

The word was "chintz." Sugden asked Kimball for the definition.

As soon as she heard it - a colorful, glazed cotton fabric used for clothing and interior decoration - Sugden confidently spelled the word. She was rewarded with a smile from Kimball and nods and smiles from the three judges.

She didn't need to ask for the word's language of origin (Hindi), but sometimes that helps, Sugden said.

"If it's Greek, for example, there are a lot of ph's and y's," she said. "If it's German, there are lots of w's and v's and stuff."

There's so much to think about on stage that Sugden doesn't get nervous or intimidated during competitions.

"I pretty much just focus on the words," she said. "I don't look at anybody" out in the audience.

That concentration will help her in Missoula next month. She, Ramlow and Bondurant all will compete in the state bee. Frank is an alternate.

Until then, Sugden will continue to study by poring over her "Spell It!" and by reading. She prefers fantasy books, but she most recently finished William Shakespeare's "Macbeth," which introduced her to several words that have fallen out of use but could crop up in places such as the spelling bee.

"It was really, really interesting, all the old speech stuff," Sugden said.

Reporter Kristi Albertson may be reached at 758-4438 or by e-mail at kalbertson@dailyinterlake.com