FINCASTLE, Va. - There's no doubt the honeylocust tree outside Fincastle United Methodist Church is big. But the question is: Is it the biggest honeylocust in the country?

Even though it's more than 200 years old, it's grown about 7 feet during the past decade, topping out at 107 feet.

Its dark, scaly trunk measures a whopping 18.5 feet in circumference, and the octopus-like limbs spread 100 feet wide.

It's been classified as the second-largest honeylocust in the country and the biggest in Virginia.

Cathy Benson and Bob Boeren are bragging that it's now the biggest in the United States and are challenging arborists in Frederick County, Md., to prove that a honeylocust there is still the national champion.

Squinting through a clinometer to determine the Fincastle tree's height recently, the pair also used little orange flags and a 100-foot tape measure to record the tree's dimensions.

They then added the measurements to get points needed to determine the biggest tree. It was the second time Benson and Boeren had calculated the tree's size; they wanted to be very accurate.

The church's honeylocust had 354 points - six more than the champion Maryland tree. Although the church's tree is 4 inches narrower, it's now 7 feet taller than the Maryland tree. Its spread is also 12 feet wider.

Boeren, state forester for Botetourt, Roanoke and Craig counties, is sending the findings to Jeff Kirvan, an extension specialist at Virginia Tech's College of Natural Resources. Kirvan will mail the information for inclusion on the American Forests' National Register of Big Trees.

"We always like good competition between states," said Karen Fedor, spokeswoman for American Forests.

The conservation group has been keeping a register of big trees since 1940 and uses volunteers to document big trees.

Benson, a member at Fincastle United Methodist, while working on a church history project decided to see how much the tree had grown. She solicited help from Boeren, who had not realized how big the tree was.

Benson's effort to have the church's tree recognized as a national champion shows the need for continual tracking, so dead trees can be replaced and newer ones documented, Kirvan said.

Benson's challenge to the Maryland tree lovers, though, is the result of her obsession with big and historic trees.

"I'm almost goofy with happiness," Benson said after she and Boeren measured both trees.

Her excitement extended to Boeren, who took half a day he had scheduled as time off to measure the trees.

Her children said that only Benson would think "measuring trees is fun," she said.

But the tree at Fincastle United Methodist is special. Her wedding picture was taken under it. She's also spent many Sunday afternoons drinking lemonade and eating cookies under the walloping tree with her church family and friends.

She's watched as the roots of the tree have extended into the cemetery on the church's grounds, hugging the headstone on the grave for William Kyle. Kyle was born Jan. 3, 1809, and died May 6, 1874.

"It's just a sweet tree," Benson said. But it's also "seen a lot of sadness," she said, scanning the names on graves under its limbs.

Standing beside her champion, Benson's mood quickly changed.

"It's one of the few things I can still stand beside and be smaller," she quipped.