Fifth grader Simon Perez and seventh grader Ethan De La Rosa will represent Eudora during the Douglas County spelling bee this Saturday.

Perez took home first place at the local elementary bee while Will Tegtmeier took second. This wasn’t the first time the two have gone head-to-head. Perez and Tegtmeier are neighbors and close friends. They battled it out during last year’s class bee, but Perez ultimately continued on to the school bee.

Tegtmeier isn’t giving up on beating his friend, though. He has all of middle school to continue trying and practicing. He got out on the word infinite. His goal is to eventually win for his grade.

Perez said he felt good going into the bee and gained further momentum toward the end.

“When I was in the top two, I felt like I was definitely gonna win, because the words weren’t that hard at the end,” he said.

He also felt bad because he wanted to see his friend win, too, he said.

Perez’s winning word was locust. He’s excited to get to represent the elementary school at the county bee.

“I feel pretty confident for the county bee because I’ve been studying my words a lot,” he said.

As he heads to middle school next year, he hopes to make this an annual event because spelling has always been his thing.

During the middle school bee, Anna L’ Ecuyer and De La Rosa finished as the top two.

De La Rosa was feeling confident going into the bee because English has always been his best subject, but he was disappointed to not get first.

“I kind of felt bummed out, because I knew I could have spelled that word,” he said.

Although he placed second, De La Rosa will represent his school at the country bee because L’Ecuyer has a volleyball game and won’t be able to make it.

He’s excited to have another chance to prove himself. It was surprising to find out he would get to move on, he said.

L’ Ecuyer wasn’t new to participating in bees. She’s been in each middle school bee, and this year she took the first place title. Usually she feels confident, but this year she felt different leading up.

“Before, I was really pretty nervous. Usually I’m calmer, but I don’t know – something felt different this time at the beginning, but during it was kind of more calm,” she said.

She studies daily leading up the event, so it was hard to decide that she would go to volleyball instead of the bee. Her winning word was rookery.

The county bee will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday at Billy Mills Middle School in Lawrence.

Update: Seventh grader Ethan De La Rosa exited Saturday’s bee in the third round and fifth grader Simon Perez exited in the fifth round. 

Reach reporter Sara Maloney at [email protected].