SARVER - With just a nine-letter word separating Joe Levri from a ticket to Washington D.C., the 14-year-old eighth grader overcame his nerves: "P-y-r-o-p-h-y-t-e."

By correctly spelling the Greek word Saturday at the Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee, Joe, a student at Mary Queen of Apostles School in New Kensington, secured his spot at the National Competition in Washington, D.C., May 31 through June 2.

Joe, who also competed in the 2004 regional competition, beat out 105 other Pittsburgh-area students for the title.

While just the experience of making it to the final round of the regional championships was exciting for him, Joe said it was also unnerving.

"It was nice because you know you have a chance," he said of making it to the final round. "But it's scary, because you know you have a chance."

Studying for about an hour a night on school days and three to four hours each day on days off helped him make it to the final round, the teen said.

But during that round, the judges stopped using words from the standard list and started asking words from the dictionary, meaning contestants could no longer rely on memory.

His first thought: "Oh, great."

But Joe figured out the spelling of pyrophyte, a woody plant with an unusual resistance to fire because of exceptionally thick bark, by using the word's Greek origin to help him spell it.

"Even if you haven't seen it," he said, "you just have to think about how it looks."

Joe said it's this strategy that he and his father, Jim Levri, who also serves as his coach, will focus on between now and the national championship.

Joe said he and his father will study Latin and Greek rooted words rather than trying to memorize them with the hopes of piecing together words based on their root.

After all, he said, it's pretty tough to memorize every word in the dictionary.

But for all of the excitement brewing in Joe, he said his father is more excited than he is.

His father has coached three other children through spelling bees, Joe said, but this is the first time any of them are headed to the national championship.

"I can tell he's excited," Joe said.

For teacher Dana Orlowski, who organized the school's spelling bee, Joe's trip to D.C. marks only the second time in her 20 years of organizing the event that a student has won the regional title.

She said Joe's work ethic led to his achievement.

"He studied and studied and studied," she said. "He's very deserving."