
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 3, 1994                   TAG: 9404030108
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: D-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

HE CAST THE WINNING SPELL

Jonathon Cohen isn't the sort to look nervous - especially when he has a job to do in front of an audience, such as spelling words hardly ever used by most common folk.

There was "fomentation," "sequoia" and the ever-popular "adenoidal."

Through it all, Cohen was unflappable. After he outspelled 17 other contestants at Saturday's 21st annual regional spelling bee in Roanoke, he took a breath and sat down, surrounded by empty chairs.

The winning word: resolvancy.

Be assured, Cohen said, he was nervous.

"I didn't want to be too overconfident and then mess up on the easy words," he said, clutching his trophies and prizes and accepting congratulations from his peers.

As champion of the spelling bee, sponsored by the Roanoke Times & World-News, Cohen wins a trip to Washington, D.C., where he'll be a contestant at the National Spelling Bee May 29-June 4.

He also receives $100 in spending money, a $50 U.S. Savings Bond, the Encyclopedia Britannica, Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary and a Franklin WordMaster 1055, an electronic spelling game.

"I like to win," said Cohen, a seventh-grader at Hidden Valley Junior High School.

But he hasn't forgotten what it feels like to be defeated. He remembers all too well the word he misspelled two years ago, the last time he represented Roanoke County at the regional spelling bee.

"Prosateur" tripped him up. It means someone who writes prose, he said. That year he tied for sixth place, and it was then that he knew he wanted to return to become the champion speller. So he took a year off, studied, and edged his way through the individual class and school spelling bees to win the Roanoke County championship again.

Jonathon's father, Norm Cohen, marvels at his son. Spelling is definitely an innate talent, he said.

"Some people can't spell for the life of them, and I'd say I'm one of the worst," Norm Cohen said.

Eighteen spelling whizzes started off the morning, hands clasped on their laps, name placards hanging from their necks by red strings.

After 50 rounds and more than an hour, four students had spelled their way to prizes.

Christopher Purcell, 12, representing Montgomery County schools, took second place, going head-to-head with Cohen for 30 rounds before dropping an `m' from "accommodable." Purcell won a Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary and Thesaurus.

Mark Tong, 12, of Radford schools placed third and won a Word Menu reference book.

Jessica Tate, 12, of Covington schools took fourth and won the Dictionary of Cultural Literacy.

For Cohen, this victory is just the beginning.

"I'm going to take a week off, enjoy this and then start studying for the national bee," he said. He hopes to place at or near the top.

by CNB