Owen Hines, 11, nailed the eight-letter noun to win the Carver Elementary spelling bee on Jan. 26.

As soon as assistant principal Tad Sherman announced the championship word, Hines' eyes lit up.

“I knew that I'd get it as soon as he said the word – I'd seen it so many times from studying,” Hines said.

“But then the pressure hit me and I had to concentrate for a second.”

Hines beat out 15 other fifth graders to move onto the Wake County Spelling Bee which will be held at N.C. State University on March 3.

It was a win his father didn't necessarily expect.

“I knew he had been studying real hard, but I had also prepared sort of a consolation speech in case he lost,” said Wirt Hines, who attended the bee.

Iasia Robinson came in second place after misspelling the word “mischief.”

Tyler Pulley came in third place.

It took 16 rounds for Hines to pull away from the field.

Sherman said the fifth-graders studied “hundreds and hundreds” of words in the three months leading up to the contest.

“They worked really hard and really surprised me,” Sherman said. “I did not expect this contest to go so many rounds or for us to go through so many of the words.”

The first, second, and third-place winners took home certificates.

Hines took home the 12-inch gold trophy.