But they won’t be taking the Cooperstown Central School eighth-grader to Washington D.C. this year.

With only one other speller left, Leonardo, the 2006 champion, faltered in the 13th round when he added an extra "h" to "epiphany." Two correctly spelled words later by Norwich Middle School eighth-grader Hayley Chwazik-Gee ("angstrom" and "odyssey") and the bee was over with Leonardo finishing in a tie for second.

"I realized I made that mistake and thought �oh no’," Leonardo said Tuesday. "I knew how to spell that word. I just really wish that I had not been so nervous."

Leonardo said nerves likely affected him in part because of the way the competition played out.

After seven rounds, only three of the original 26 spellers remained: Leonardo, Chwazik-Gee and Eileen Dorsey from Oxford Central School. The three battled back and forth for five rounds, during which each correctly spelled words like "howitzer," "flotilla," "obsequious" and "eclectic."

The rhythm was shattered when Dorsey opened the 13th round by missing "knish," a word she seemed not to have heard before. She repeated it back to the judges with an uncertain look on her face and then spelled it out phonetically, coming up with "caniche." Although accurate in the phonetic sense, the judge’s bell rang out when she finished, signaling her elimination and opening the door for a spell-off between the two remaining contestants.

"I thought, �this is getting more heated up and could go on between me and her for a while’," Leonardo said. "I was getting sort of excited."

Leonardo strode to the microphone and started spelling his final word, pausing for a moment after saying the letters e-p-h.

He realized he had made a mistake, but once a speller has begun a word, they cannot change the letters they have already used.

"Then I was just hoping (Chwazik-Gee) got one of her words wrong," Leonardo said. If she had, both Leonardo and Dorsey would have been brought back on the Goodrich Theater stage and a new round would have begun.

While he was disappointed that he didn’t win, Leonardo said that after some reflection, he came to understand that it wasn’t a huge deal.

"I realized its ok. I’ve been to Washington D.C. before and she hasn’t, so let her have a chance," he said.

As Leonardo did the previous year, Chwazik-Gee won an all-expenses paid trip to the capital to represent the region in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, which takes place May 30-31.

He didn’t get a chance to talk to Chwazik-Gee much after the competition, but Leonardo has a few words of advice for her and for future spellers.

"Just don’t get too nervous and good luck. And no matter what happens, someone will be proud of you," he said.