L-O-G-O-R-R-H-E-A!

Nupur Lala, a 14-year-old from Tampa, Fla., who studied how to spell words for two hours a day, won the national spelling bee Thursday by correctly spelling "logorrhea," which means incoherent talkativeness.

"My parents, they would take turns quizzing me," said Nupur, who is in the eighth grade at Louis Benito Middle School in Tampa. "When one got tired, the other would take over. They were my coaches."

The teen-ager credited her success to studying and maybe a little "divine intervention."

"I didn't think I would make it this far," said Nupur, who was eliminated in the third round of last year's bee. Last year, she was tripped up by the word "commination," which means the threat of punishment. But she proved she had mastered it by spelling it correctly for the audience after she became this year's champ.

The 72nd annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee began Wednesday with 249 spellers. When the competition resumed Thursday, 104 spellers were still in the running, but by the end of the fourth round at midmorning, only 49 were left including the reinstated contestant. The winner gets a $10,000 first-place cash prize, plus encyclopedias, two airline tickets and computer software.

Some of the 9- to 15-year-old contestants, all wearing white polo shirts, spelled with their hands stuffed deep in their pockets. Others gazed at the ceiling for inspiration. When they sat waiting their turn, they yawned, examined the bottoms of their tennis shoes, twirled hair and fidgeted with yellow numbered placards hung around their necks.

Napur beat David Lewandowski, another 14-year-old, who is from Schererville, Ind.

David, who is in the eighth grade at Forest Ridge Academy, was eliminated after misspelling "opsimath," a person who begins to learn late in life. He misspelled it as "opsomath."

"The words were harder this year, especially in the first few rounds," said David, who finished 39th in last year's bee. "I really didn't expect to make it as far."

Earlier Thursday, spelling bee contender Harry Altman was stumped for four minutes and 30 seconds by the first word he faced.

He whispered the word "banns" to himself, glanced around the stage, sighed hard into the microphone, closed his eyes even stuck out his tongue.

"B-a," he started. He stopped. Then he started again. "B-a-n-d ... oops, let's see."

The judges were getting impatient.

"Take a deep breath and let's finish the word," judge Mary Brooks told the sixth-grader kindly.

Harry spelled "b-a-n-d-s" with little confidence. The elimination bell sounded. Harry, a 12-year-old computer enthusiast from Glen Rock, N.J., was out.

He appealed his elimination, arguing that the official pronouncer mispronounced the word "banns," a plural noun that means an announcement of an intended marriage.

"I said `bands' and they didn't make me repeat it," h said.

Spelling bee officials disagreed. They did not reinstate Harry, but they did reinstate Greg Touney, 14, of Decatur, Ill., who appealed his elimination as well.

Greg's word was "immanent," which means dwelling within. He spelled it "imminent," and was eliminated. After he appealed, the judges ruled that he had given an acceptable alternate spelling.

The contestants, most sponsored by their local newspapers, all won regional bees to qualify. David was sponsored by The Times of Munster, Ind., and Nupur was sponsored by The Tampa Tribune.

Scripps Howard, the newspaper group based in Cincinnati, coordinates the national finals and produces the word lists and study materials.

Written By Deb Riechmann