Chattanooga 5th grader wins trip to national spelling bee

photo Marlee Mallat, left, a homeschool student, holds her second place trophy while Nicole Frische, 11, right, of Allen Elementary holds her first place award Saturday afternoon. Young students participated in the 2012 Regional Spelling Bee at the Fine Art Centers on the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga on Saturday. Frische won first place after spelling "quibble" as the clincher.

Allen Elementary School student Nicole Frische bested 59 other elementary and middle-schoolers on Saturday afternoon for the chance to represent the Chattanooga region at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The contest included students from 15 counties and lasted for more than two hours. Spellers contended with more than 300 words derived from languages as exotic as Javanese, Tupi and Icelandic.

Three-time winner Tanay Patri finished third in his final regional bee. Frische won by correctly spelling "slalom" and "quibble."

Her winnings include a trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in May's national spelling bee, $500, a $100 savings bond and, of course, a collegiate dictionary.

The Regional Spelling Bee is sponsored by the Chattanooga Times Free Press.

For complete coverage, see Sunday's Times Free Press.

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