It turned out to be a battle of Grove City Saturday morning at the 14th annual Herald Spelling Bee.

After Hasreet "Lali" Gill and Andrew Knappenberger exchanged words on stage -- 32 words, to be exact -- it was Andrew who ended up claiming this year's top honor.

Lali, who is in fourth grade, and Andrew, who is in sixth grade, are students at Hillview Intermediate Center in Grove City.

After the two stood toe to toe, like champion prize fighters for more than 20 minutes, Lali tripped on idiosyncrasy.

Andrew spelled that word correctly, and needed to get ichthyophagist right to win the crown.

No sooner had the final T rolled from his lips and had pronouncer Joe Wiercinski declared him the champion, Andrew jumped joyfully in the air with both arms extended above his head with fists clenched in triumph.

Perhaps showing as much joy as Andrew was the delightful Lali, whose broad smile and clapping for her fellow student was the ultimate show of good sportsmanship.

The battle between Andrew and Lali included such words as facetious, equestrienne, daguerreotype, cholorofluorocarbon, carrefour, beneficence and ampullaceous along with 25 others of equal difficulty.

This year's third-place finisher was Amanda Henning, a fifth-grader from Oakview Elementary in West Middlesex. She was a repeat winner, finishing third in 2001.

For his championship, Andrew walked off with a computer, monitor and printer, valued at more than $1,000, and two plaques -- one of which will be given to his school.

Lali won a large dictionary and thesaurus, a $200 U.S. Savings Bond and a plaque, while Amanda won a large dictionary and thesaurus, a plaque and a $100 U.S. Savings Bond.

All 46 participants were presented with a red, white and blue ribbon with medal and a certificate during the awards ceremonies.

Christine Kuester of Case Avenue Elementary School in Sharon finished in fourth place, and Rachel McDonald of Reynolds Elementary came in fifth.

Andrew, who moved to the area about a year and a half ago, was a first-time participant in the competition.

While walking out of the Penn State Shenango auditorium with his computer after nearly three hours of competition, he humbly shrugged off his accomplishment.

"I enjoyed the experience and I was very happy to be the champion," he said.

"I studied about two hours a day for six weeks," he said when asked how long he prepared for the competition.

Andrew is a son of George and Liz Knappenberger of Grove City; Lali is a daughter of Hirdaypal and Harminder Gill of Grove City; and Amanda is a daughter of Dean and Michelle Henning of West Middlesex.

The Bee is sponsored by The Herald and the Strimbu Memorial Fund and is coordinated by Mary Beth LoScalzo, The Herald's Newspaper in Education administrator.

"That was a battle," Wiercinski, the bee's veteran pronouncer, told the large gathering in the auditorium in Sharon. "And the competition justs keeps getting better and better every year."