It was a battle between two previous district champions as the number of participants in La Porte ISD's annual spelling bee dwindled to just two in Round 8 of the competition, which was held on Feb. 15 at the LPISD Administration Building.

Aryaman Jadhav, a seventh grader at Lomax Junior High School, and Kelsey Ramirez, an eighth grader at La Porte Junior High School, traded places in front of the microphone for seven additional rounds, confidently spelling words such as "wainscot," "quixote," "salmonella" and "pacifism."

When Kelsey faltered on "gestalt" in Round 15, Aryaman spelled it correctly and followed with the spelling of "verboten" to capture the win.

This is the third consecutive year that Aryaman, son of Supriya and Ruthuraj Jadhav, has earned the district spelling bee champion title. In 2012, he represented the Baker Sixth Grade Campus, and in 2011, he was a fifth grader at Heritage Elementary School.

Kelsey, the daughter of Angela and Jermaine Alfred and Robert Ramirez, won the district championship three years ago as a fifth grader at Rizzuto Elementary.

The top three spellers from each LPISD elementary and junior high school competed in the event. Aryaman will now advance to the 2013 Houston PBS spelling bee on March 23.

Campus winners who competed in the district contest included Giovanny Barragan, Valerie Bonvillain and Tristan Harper of Bayshore Elementary; Taylor Howell, Alexya Johnson and Justin Ramirez of College Park Elementary; Aianna Avergonzado, Alexandria Gobert and Rylea Sandel of Heritage Elementary; Brooke Bible, Hunter James and Kayla Waters of Jennie Reid Elementary; and Sandra Aleman, Devin Diaz and Martha Schwab of La Porte Elementary.

Other district competitors were Marcus Cummings, Luke Gibson and Rebecca Porter of Lomax Elementary; Zane Cherry, Dylan Harrison and Eduardo Quezada of Rizzuto Elementary; Marissa Benavidez, Elaine Leslie and Chaz Rothmund of Baker Sixth Grade Campus; Madeline Blagg and Donavan Goins of La Porte Junior High School; and Cheyenne Copeland and Rebecca Salinas of Lomax Junior High School.