Waiting for her turn to approach the microphone, Jhanvi Sheth was restless as she watched her fellow spellers, one after the other, misspell their words.
After 57 spellers braved the hot stage lights in South Charleston High School's auditorium, Jhanvi finally got her chance to spell.
She didn't look back the rest of the morning.
By correctly spelling "flotilla" after about 25 rounds, Jhanvi, a Charleston Catholic High School eighth grader, on Saturday won the Kanawha County Spelling Bee. She was one of only 20 competitors to spell a word correctly. Saturday's bee had 61 entrants.
While she confidently spelled each of her words, Jhanvi said the first few rounds were difficult to sit through.
"I was nervous," she said.
It's not uncommon for several spellers to go down in the first round of a spelling bee, but Saturday's competition got off to a rough start. Out of the first 10 spellers, only one got their word correct. It didn't get much better until the field thinned out in later rounds.
Longtime pronouncer Kennie Bass said watching 41 spellers go down in the first round made him feel bad for the students, who already have proven their merit as spellers by outlasting competition in class and school spelling bees.
"I've been doing this for a long time," the WCHS anchor said. "And I've never seen anything like that before."
While the first few rounds were ruthless - nine spellers were eliminated in the second round and all but three had left the stage by round nine - the top spellers were tenacious when asked to spell several difficult words.
Jhanvi, who has spelled in Kanawha County's bee each of the last two years, said her success can be owed to hours of studying.
"I memorized words from my school bee and asked my mom and dad to ask me words, too," she said, holding two trophies - one she'll keep and one that will be displayed at her school once her name is engraved on its side.
"She worked very hard for this,"said Jhanvi's dad, Ashish. "And there were a lot of bright kids up there."
Jhanvi, like many seasoned spellers, used lifelines available to her. Each speller is allowed to ask the pronouncer to repeat the word, as well as ask for its definition, language of origin and part of speech - all clues that can be used to figure out the correct spelling of difficult words.
Many of Saturday's eliminated spellers did not ask those questions.
While they didn't win the bee, the two runners-up, Taylor Martin and Jeeya Patel, both elementary students, also used the technique.
Jeeya, a fifth-grader at Ruthlawn Elementary School, came in second place, which allows her to advance with Jhanvi to the next competition, the Gazette-Mail Regional Spelling Bee.
Spelling competitions in West Virginia and around the country are tiered. Spellers usually start in either a class or school bee. Winners go on to a county bee and then to regionals before advancing to the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Recent history favors Kanawha County spellers who advance to regionals. The last three Gazette-Mail Regional Spelling Bee champions have been from Kanawha County.
Jhanvi will first focus on spelling in the regional bee, though. She said she'll start focusing on languages of origin so she can be better prepared to spell foreign words.
Jhanvi's determination to advance - this is the last year she is eligible to compete - has rubbed off on those around her.
"I'm learning words as she's studying," Jhanvi's mother, Falguni, said. "She really wanted to win this time."
Saturday's bee was sponsored by the Kanawha County Schools Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the county board of education. Judges included retired educators Barbara Jones, Pam Mullins and Peggy Alexander and Kanawha County Magistrate Mike Sisson.
Jhanvi and Jeeya will now advance to the Gazette-Mail Regional Spelling Bee, which is scheduled to take place March 12.
The winner of the regional bee will receive an all-expense-paid trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Md., outside Washington, D.C. They'll also get $2,500 in a SMART529 college savings account.
The Gazette-Mail Regional Spelling Bee is sponsored by the West Virginia Automobile and Truck Dealers Association and WSAZ, which will broadcast the competition at a later date on myZtv.
Reach Samuel Speciale at sam.speciale@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-7939 or follow @samueljspeciale on Twitter.