MILFORD - Standing on stage in front of a room full of peers is typically nerve-wracking, but for eighth-grader Chelsea Foster being nervous earned her the top prize at Milford Central School's third annual spelling bee.

Foster correctly spelled "nervous" in the 16th round of the bee Tuesday afternoon in front of an auditorium packed with her classmates to take home first place and earn a chance to compete at the regional spelling bee at SUCO in March.

"I'm just happy, I guess," Foster said after the competition ended. She said she hadn't studied extensively before the bee because she didn't know what day it was, but prepared for it during her study halls Tuesday.

Foster took home first place after beating six other contestants over sixteen rounds of single-elimination spelling, including nine one-on-one rounds against second-place finisher Jane O'Bryan. Foster and O'Bryan were the only two contestants left after third-place finisher Allison Tabor exited in the 7th round.

The two matched each other word for word until the 12th round, when O'Bryan misspelled "aquanaut." Foster missed a chance to advance to the next round - where she would have to correctly spell one additional word to win - when she also misspelled "aquanaut."

O'Bryan almost capitalized in the 14th round, when Foster misspelled "nozzle." O'Bryan correctly spelled "nozzle," but missed "disapprove" in the 15th. After correctly spelling "disapprove," Foster advanced to the 16th where she got "nervous" to win it.

The words Foster spelled en route to her victory were banana, affection, excellent, intermission, explosion, fiesta, shingles, misadventure, anklet, jewel, general, surfable, confection, disapprove and nervous.

O'Bryan almost didn't make it out of the first round, after the pronouncer for the event misheard her spelling of "formula" and disqualified her from play. After a brief discussion, the judges reinstated her, to the applause of the crowd.

Principal Lynda Bookhard congratulated the contestants after the event for their courage in competing in the event.

"It takes a lot of courage to get up on stage and spell words," she said. "In my mind, you're all winners."

Organizer Sherry Aufmuth said the event was longer than usual this year and fun for the kids involved.

"It's always great to see how the kids react to their words," she said. She said any middle-school student could volunteer for the event and the only requirement was that they attend one of the four practice sessions held before the bee.

Foster will compete in March at SUCO at the regional spelling bee against the first-place finisher from each participating area school. The winner of that contest heads to Washington D.C. to represent the region in the 79th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee, which is televised.

The 2006 national bee is scheduled for May 31 and June 1.