Hmm, was that 'I before E'?

Rapatan, an eighth-grader at Sonoran Science Academy, did not disappoint, beating out 54 other children Saturday to make her way back to the March 31 state competition, where she came in 10th last year.

Also making the trip to Arizona State University to compete in this year's Arizona Spelling Bee will be Jessica Nairn, a seventh-grader at Desert Sky Middle School, who placed second in the county bee, which was held on the University of Arizona campus.

The final phase of Saturday's bee, which lasted about three hours, was a newly introduced written round for the last of the participants who made it through four prior rounds. The student who spelled the most words correctly was named the winner.

While organizers of the bee declined to say how many words each of the final eight contestants missed, they did say that none got every word correct.

"I was worried most about the written round because I mostly practice out loud," Rapatan said.

While the written round is designed to make the process quicker, three of the participants tied for second place, so a second written round had to be conducted for thoem.

Nairn, who has not competed in the bee since fourth grade, was beaming with joy when it was announced that she won the tie-breaker for second place.

"It's crazy. I never thought that this would happen," she said. "I just studied, and my mom would pick out words and if I got it wrong, she would just keep giving it to me."

Now Nairn said she is going to increase her study time, which was about an hour a day for the county competition.

Because this is Rapatan's last year of eligibility for the K-8 spelling bee, her goal now is to improve on her 10th place win at the state contest.

"I was worried that I wouldn't win this one, but I did and now I just want to make sure I do better at state," Rapatan said.

Olivia Valencia, an eighth-grader at SS. Peter and Paul Catholic School, placed third and will serve as an alternate if Rapatan or Nairn cannot attend.

All of the spellers received gift certificates to Bookman's, and the top three winners also were given medals.