Floyd County speller headed to semifinals of national bee

Shayley Martin correctly spelled "truttaceous" to advance in the bee.

Courtesy Lydeana Martin

Shayley Martin spells “truttaceous” onstage in Round 3 at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Oxon Hill, Md. Shayley is among 281 spellers competing. Only 42 spellers advanced to the semifinals.

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Shayley Martin

Annie McCallum | 981-3227

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Floyd County spelling champ Shayley Martin has advanced to the 2013 Scripps National Spelling Bee semifinals for the first time after taking part in the national competition for the third time.

Can you spell perseverance?

Shayley, a seventh-grader at Floyd Elementary School, was the Roanoke region’s spelling champion this spring for the third year in a row. She is one of 13 contestants competing in the national bee for the third consecutive year.

When reached by phone Wednesday, she said she was surprised.

“I think they probably made a mistake,” Shayley said, confessing she didn’t study much because she’s been busy. “I am definitely surprised.”

She correctly spelled “Wiccan” and “truttaceous” in the second and third rounds of Wednesday’s competition.

Truttaceous? Of, relating to, or resembling a trout.

Spellers who correctly spelled in rounds two and three then had the results of their round one exam added to determine the semifinalists. For the first time in the bee’s history, this year the round one test included a section on vocabulary.

Shayley was among 281 spellers to compete in the national bee, held in Oxon Hill, Md. , but only 42 spellers advanced to the semifinals.

Her success in the bee also caught her mother, Lydeana Martin, off guard.

“I’m just really shocked. She studied so little,” Martin said, but added her daughter is a voracious reader. “She reads all the time. She loves words.”

Martin said she and other family members attended the bee Wednesday.

“We were there for the onstage rounds. We can’t go in with them on the written round,” she said, explaining it’s computerized in a separate room. “The parents wait nervously outside.”

Martin said once Shayley is on stage, the nerves return as her daughter gets ready to head to the microphone.

“I don’t get nervous until it’s down to three or four spellers before her. I get extremely nervous,” she said, adding she has to hold onto whoever is sitting next to her.

Shayley will take the stage again in the semifinals, which begin today at 2 p.m. They will be broadcast on ESPN2. The finals will be at 8 p.m. today on ESPN.

Monday, August 12, 2013