Two Scottsdale Unified School District middle school students claimed the district’s annual spelling bee championships last week.

Tonalea Middle School eighth grade student Fabian Marquez Rodriguez won the SUSD Spanish Spelling Bee, followed the next day by Ingleside Middle School sixth grader Landry Bruyere, who claimed the district spelling bee title. Both events were held at Coronado High School.

Rodriguez out dueled 19 other spellers through nine rounds before going head-to-head against Cheyenne Traditional School’s Addison Fineberg for six more. “llave”, which means key in English, was the winning word.

Cheyenne 8th graders Kaitlin Ophaug and Camden Crider finished in third and fourth place respectively.

The following day, 24 spellers from SUSD’s elementary, K-8 and middle schools took the auditorium stage in their pursuit of the district spelling bee title. After 15 rounds, it was Bruyere who remained standing, fending off five rounds of one-on-one spelling against Cheyenne seventh grader Trystan Zapfe. The winning word was “astringent” but Bruyere admitted “consternation” in Round 14 gave him trouble.

Headed to the Feb. 11 region II spelling bee with Bruyere and Zapfe are Redfield Elementary School fourth grader Aydon Morales and fifth graders Brynne Tadano from Desert Canyon as well as Isabella Giovando from Yavapai and Jack Loback from Kiva Elementary School.

The winner of the regional bee, which will be conducted at the Cactus Shadows Fine Arts Center, 33606 N. 60th St., Scottsdale, heads to the Arizona Educational Foundation Arizona Spelling Bee on March 15 at the Madison Center for the Arts, 5601 N. 16th St., Phoenix. That competition’s top two spellers will represent Arizona in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee May 27-29 in suburban Washington, D.C.