After a final competition that lasted more than three hours and had 19 rounds, 14-year-old Anna Wadhwani, an eighth-grader at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, won first place in the 60th annual Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee.

Anna's winning words -- the last speller standing must spell two consecutive words correctly -- were conjunctivitis, and, fittingly, logomachy: a dispute over or about words.

It was Anna's first year in the regional spelling bee, which is sponsored by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Carnegie Science Center, and Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, where the event was held.

More than ten minutes after she had won, she was still fluttering with nerves.

"I'm shaking all over," she said.

Her prize includes an all-expenses paid trip to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Anna, who is from Mt. Lebanon, said she is thrilled to be able to compete against spellers from across the country.

"I just like the adrenaline," she said. "Some kids are good at math and science. I'm good at spelling."

Anna won the bee after two fraught rounds in which she and the second-place winner, Adrianne Kubiak, both misspelled words.

Adrianne, 12, is a seventh-grader at St. Philip School in Crafton. She said she hopes to compete again in next year's bee.

The third-, fourth- and fifth-place winners were, respectively: Aubrey Moore, from Harrold Middle School in Hempfield; Maria Castellon, from Mary Queen of Apostles School in New Kensington; and Joseph Olivas, who is a home-schooled student.

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