Topeka ? Kendra Frazier was thinking about more than the state title she had won when she correctly spelled the words “callow” and “noisome” during the All-Kansas Spelling Bee.

“I knew this was the last year for anyone else in my family,” said Kendra, the youngest in a family of top-notch spellers. “I did it for my sisters.”

Her sisters, Angela and Erica Frazier, died in a car wreck in the early 1990s. Angela represented her county and her family four times at the state bee, finishing in second place twice. Erica was a good speller and had hoped to compete in the All-Kansas Spelling Bee, said John Frazier, their father.

Kendra’s mother, Linda, also competed in the bee in 1967, as did Kendra’s older sister, Christa.

“I don’t know where they get it,” Frazier said of his wife and daughters’ ability to spell.

Kendra, who beat out 98 other spellers to win the state title Saturday at Washburn University, attributed her spelling prowess to “reading a lot” and experience.

The eighth-grader from Altamont Grade School was neck and neck with 13-year-old Erin Keeley in the final rounds. It was the final year of participation for both girls due to age and grade restrictions.

Keeley had placed second and third in previous contests.

Kendra already had spelled catamaran, congeal, coniferous, dolorous, and hypercritical. Keeley had spelled euphemism, chivalrous, onyx, cuticle and suavity.

Keeley stumbled on the word “noisome,” meaning harmful to health, foul-smelling, or offensive. She substituted a “y” for the “i.” To win, Kendra had to spell that word and a final one correctly.

“Secretly, I was extremely excited,” Kendra said. “I knew ‘noisome,’ but I knew I didn’t have it won. The hardest part of the bee was not knowing what that next word would be.”

Kendra goes on to the National Spelling Bee June 1-3.

Laura Drees, a West Junior High School student, was Douglas County’s representative.