Several Wyoming spellers learned the strict rules of spelling bees the hard way Saturday afternoon.

Chase Scarborough, an eighth-grader at Dean Morgan Junior High School, coughed during the "el" in "fuselage." After he cleared his throat, he repeated the "el" and continued to spell the word.

He began to return to his chair on stage at Roberts Commons at Casper College once he thought he had spelled the word correctly. As he went to sit down, he heard the ding of the judge's bell indicating they had counted the word as incorrect.

"At first they counted it as correct so I thought it was cheap," Scarborough said. "Once they told me the ruling, I was OK with it."

The judges told Scarborough that, according to national rules they follow, if a speller wants to retrace the spelling of the word, he must first alert the judges he is starting over and then use the same sequence of letters first uttered before continuing the spelling.

The judges were unsure if Scarborough was simply repeating the "el" or adding it to the spelling of the word.

"I hated to see that kid go down," said Irene Sutherland, who has been a spelling bee judge for more than 15 years. "I knew he knew how to spell the word."

The judges have to be strict because judges at the national level are even stricter, she said.

Judges at the Wyoming state qualifying bee in Casper, where winners advance to the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. said they had more challenges and questions about rules, spellings and pronunciation this year than they had experienced in previous years.

"Sometimes we don't have any at all," Sutherland said.

However, the judges said they had two challenges and several other questioned calls throughout the bee that went nine rounds to determine the first, second and third place finishers.

Scarborough's spelling of "fuselage," was one of the challenged points.

Mike Scarlett, a sixth-grade teacher at Clear Creek Middle School, jumped up from his chair as soon as the judges dinged the dreaded bell on his student during the second round.

The judges gave seventh-grader, Blake Bell, the word "beleaguer." He began to spell it confidently, but after putting the "u" after the "a," he asked the judges if he could start over. The judges dinged him and said no because the rules say he must continue in the sequence as first uttered.

Scarlett was upset, because he felt Bell could continue spelling until he repeated the word to end the turn.

Also, at the qualifying spelling bee in Johnson County, which he supervises, he allows the students to correct wrongly uttered letters if they realize the mistake immediately - unlike in the state bee.

"I think I'm going to change the rules of our spelling bees," Scarlett said. "It will better prepare the students."

Donna Griesch, another long-time judge of the spelling competition, said there were varied reasons for all the questioning.

"One protest sometimes leads to another," Griesch said. "Part of it was when we realized the tape wasn't working."

The judges are supposed to tape the spellings in case there are any disputes. When the judges went to listen to it after a question, they saw the tape recorder was not working.

Griesch admitted the judges needed to take some responsibility for that error because they were supposed to check the tape after the practice round. They did not Saturday.

However, all three judges make notes on each spelling and confer with each other if there is a problem, she said, making their decisions as accurate as possible.

Griesch said all of the challenges and questions were handled correctly.

Even though there were some complications during the competition, there was no disputing who the winner was.

Sarah Lehmitz, a seventh-grader from Torrington Middle School, spelled all ten of her words correctly including a practice round word and was the only student to score a perfect score on the 100-word spelling quiz that took place before the oral competition began.

Lehmitz will travel to Washington, D.C. in May to compete as Wyoming's lone representative in the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

"I'm a little nervous about it," Lehmitz said. "I didn't want to study that hard."