Twelve spellers competed in the Southeast Minnesota Spelling Bee final round Feb. 26 at the Southeast Service Cooperative in Rochester. Christine Farnberg, a sixth-grader from Rochester Catholic Schools was named the champion after correctly spelling the word “innocuous.”

Farnberg will compete at the 86th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 28 through June 1.

The runner-up was Devon Nerstad, an eighth-grader from Spring Grove Public Schools and Marisa Alvarado, an eighth-grader from Kasson-Mantorville, was the second runner-up.

There were six spellers from Albert Lea and the surrounding area who made it as far as the regional round of the spelling bee which took place Feb. 12. Those students were Isaac Harveaux, a fifth-grader at St. Theodore Catholic School, Madison Nelsen, an eighth-grader from Glenville-Emmons and four students from Albert Lea, sixth-grader Avery Moore, fifth-grader Madeline Heinz, seventh-grader Jens Lange and fifth-grader Ellie Reichel.