First time was the charm for Logan O'Neill who showed he was anything but "vincible."
The Malaspina elementary school Grade 7 student beat out 33 competitors in his (and his school's) first attempt at the Prince George Citizen Regional Canspell with his championship word.
In the 12th round when it was down to just O'Neill and Vanderhoof's Jane Kanary, it looked like it was all over for the 12-year-old Malaspina student as he tripped over "syllabus" and left the stage.
With "celebratory" as her next word, Vanderhoof student Jane Kanary's fate as champion seemed sealed.
Unfortunately, the adage "I before E except after C" threw a wrench in Kanary's celebrations as she mixed up the two vowels in her championship word and misspelled "albeit."
That misstep marked O'Neill's return to the stage and he held on to get his chance at the championship word when Kanary misspelled "pallor."
Head judge Dr. Kristen Guest had barely finished saying "that's correct" before his family erupted in the fourth row of Vanier Hall.
Logan's win topped off an already emotional afternoon as the region's best spellers converged on Prince George Secondary School from as far as Prince Rupert and Hudson's Hope.
For seven of them, their journey was over in the first round. Six more fell in round two to the likes of "animosity" and "fatigue."
Last year's regional champion, Smithers' Justin Bergen, held on to make it to the top nine, before drowning in "limeade."
Canspell's first sister act, Harwin elementary's Katherine and Nancy Li, bowed out back to back in the eighth round, unable to capture the "nuance" of "zaniness."
The glee was evident on Logan's face, even as his body sagged in relief as he accepted the competition trophy from Prince George Citizen publisher Colleen Sparrow and a standing ovation from the audience.
Logan described the feeling of winning as "weird."
"I never win stuff," he said.
Mom Jana was in tears following her son's win.
"I expected him to be in the top three, for sure," she said, describing the final moments as passing in slow motion. "It was more tense than a sporting event."
Described by his mother as a "bookworm," Logan said he can get through a 400-page chapter book in one day, with his favourites being the Harry Potter series and novels by author Jodie Picoult.
Though he spent two to three hours per day preparing for the competition, Logan also enjoys playing video games like Mindcraft and Call of Duty and participating in a variety of activities and school clubs.
Logan's teacher Dan Scott was in the audience to see his win, months after starting the Canspell Club as a lunchtime activity at the school.
"I was quite confident he was going to do well," Scott said. "It was really exciting just to see how far he's come."
And there's still further for Logan to go. Not only did he clinch the regional title, but he was also awarded a $5,000 education award from Egg Farmers of Canada and will head to Toronto to compete in the Postmedia Canspell National Final at the end of the month.
