Cherish Stafford didn't remember to wear her Trinity Lutheran School uniform as she was told. She didn't even study for the regional spelling bee.
But she remembered the important stuff - how to spell the words. "Last year she was failing all her classes at public school," said her guardian, aunt Cassie Moore.
Now she's headed to Washington, D.C., for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
"I'm so psyched," said Stafford, 13, who was also the top seventh-grade speller at Trinity Lutheran, a private school in Bend.
Stafford, wearing a red T-shirt and jeans instead of Trinity Lutheran's green plaid dress, was the last speller standing after a 2 1/2-hour contest that whittled away a 70-person field of fourth- through eighth-grade students from across Central Oregon. Several of the eligible 86 students did not show up at the contest at Summit High School in Bend, according to organizers.
"When I got down to the last two again, all I did was pray," Stafford said.
Suspense built as Stafford and second-place finisher Andy Gasaway of Jefferson County Middle School each missed several words after making it to the final round.
After Gasaway misspelled "jerkin," defined as "a close-fitting hip-length usually sleeveless jacket," Stafford stepped back to the microphone. She had little trouble with "gusset," a usually diamond-shaped or triangular insert in a seam.
Under bee rules, to win, she would have to spell a second word. It was "redoubt."
Stafford said the word, asked for the definition - a small, usually temporary enclosed defensive work - then said the word again.
"Readout?" she asked.
"Re-doubt," said the pronouncer.
"Redoubt," Stafford said. "R-E-D-O-U-B-T."
For her verbal acuity, Stafford won a $100 savings bond, a $20 gift certificate to Amazon.com and a hefty dictionary. The national spelling bee champion wins $12,000 as well as thousands of dollars of sponsor prizes.
A discrepancy in the bee rules caused a minor controversy near the end of the contest. Gasaway was temporarily eliminated after misspelling "Hellenic," before being called back. He was called back after Stafford and Kelly Torrence, 12, a sixth-grader at Pilot Butte Middle School, each misspelled their words. Torrence was eliminated in the next round on "doughty."
National Bee rules specify that when the number of spellers is reduced to two, the elimination process changes, meaning Torrence should have advanced to the final round.
"Judges are the final decider of what to do," said organizer Judy Coleman of The Bulletin. The event is sponsored by The Bulletin.
Although the bee became tense in the closing rounds, most of the children were more relaxed than the tense spellers shown in the documentary "Spellbound" or at the National Bee on ESPN.
"As soon as you look at your parents, they give you a high-five and you feel better," said 11-year-old Kenya Slayton, of Pine Ridge Elementary.
Before the bee, some returning spellers shared tricks they'd learned at earlier contests.
"Ask as many questions as you can, it buys you time," said Mary Popish, 14, from Obsidian Middle School. Popish finished second at last year's regional bee, but was eliminated in the second round this year.
Many children gave each other high-fives as they returned to their seats after spelling a word right. Others put their hands on the shoulders of their eliminated rivals.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held on May 31 through June 2, in Washington, D.C.