Two top spellers went toe to toe for 12 rounds before Dylan Thompson nailed the winning word: mosquitoey.

“I was the champion in the fourth grade, so it’s not new, but it still feels really good,” said the seventh-grader.

Anthony Kaskurs received the honor of runner-up.

Twenty-two top spellers from the fourth through eighth grade classes at Orcas Island Elementary School, Middle School and OASIS K-8 School competed in the Championship Bee on Jan. 29.

They battled it out over such words as anticoagulant, omniscient, latitudinarian, adieu, and paramecium.

Many of the Orcas competitors had been practicing for months with the school’s spelling club, participating in mock bees, learning strategies, and studying word lists.

Thompkins will compete in the Regional Spelling Bee on March 13 at Bayview Elementary in Burlington, Wash. The regional winner advances to The Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

Thompson received a $50 gift certificate to Darvill’s and Kaskurs was awarded a $25 gift certificate to Enzo’s. Both boys were given a one year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica Online.