Correctly spelling “saxophone” was music to Enterprise studentDaniel Reeves’ ears Thursday as he moved within one word of winningthe Lincoln County Spelling Bee Thursday night at the C.H. LipseyMiddle School gymnasium.

With the proper spelling of “anvil” in the final round, Reevesproved himself to be the best speller in Lincoln County, prevailingover six other children from fourth to eighth grades. Seven schoolsfrom across the county were represented and the contest took about30 minutes.

After departures by Garrett Anders, a sixth-grader from BogueChitto School; Emily Freeman, a sixth-grader from Lipsey, JackRoberts, a fourth-grader from Brookhaven Elementary; and MichaelKavitz, an eighth-grader from Brookhaven Academy, it wasneck-and-neck for several rounds between the remaining threeparticipants.

After fifth-grader Matt Gill of West Lincoln went out on theword “ballot” in the ninth round, Nicholas Fries of AlexanderJunior High School and Reeves were the final two contenders. It wastight for three more rounds before pronouncer Heather Smith calledthe word “magnolia” for Fries to spell.

Fries started off with a misspelling, but corrected himself andended up spelling the word correctly.

However, contest rules say a participant may start over on aword but may not rearrange the letters he’s already said, which iswhat Fries did in trying to correct himself. Judges ruled the wordhad not been spelled correctly and Fries was eliminated, leavingonly Reeves remaining.

Reeves spelled the word “saxophone” in the 12th round and then”anvil” to close out the spelling bee in the 13th round.

“They were very well prepared,” said rules judge Gwen Case, ofLipsey School, about this year’s participants. “They were relaxed,and everything went really smoothly.”

Case said Reeves will now move on to the State Spelling Bee inJackson. It will be held on Tuesday, March 20 at the MississippiBroadcasting Studio in Jackson.

Reeves’ parents, Danny and Linda Reeves, were in attendance tosee their son take home tops honors.

“He was so nervous,” said Mrs. Reeves.

Reeves agreed.

“I practiced for about half a week,” he said. “I was amazed whenI won.”

Reeves, who had to win a school-wide spelling bee at Enterpriseto get to the finals, said there was one perk of being the winnerthat was really exciting.

“I get to get my picture in the paper,” he said.