SABATTUS – Klaas Pruiksma was a little nervous. It showed in his stance at the microphone and in his voice.

But 35 minutes and eight spelling rounds later, the slender, soft-spoken Lewiston sixth-grader’s steady vocabulary earned him first place in the Androscoggin County Spelling Bee and a trip to the State Bee in Bangor on March 24.

Pruiksma correctly spelled “caribou” and then “automaton” to beat Trinity Middle School’s Amanda Cullen, who faltered on “alfalfa.”

Jacob Tanner, a sixth-grader at Livermore Falls Middle School, finished third runner-up after “impetuous” did him in during the seventh round.

Sixteen students qualified for the county bee, held at Sabattus Central School, by winning their respective district competitions one month ago. Twelve students showed up Tuesday to compete. Whoever wins the state bee will represent Maine in the national bee in Washington, D.C., in May.

Words for the county and state bees come from a 400-word list provided by sponsor Scripps Howard, a news service and media company that has sponsored the national spelling bee since 1925. Schools compile their own lists for local and district bees.

Pruiksma, 11, and Cullen, 13, are voracious readers and each professed a knack for spelling. Neither claimed to spend much time actually studying for the competition.

“I looked at the list the day after the district bee, and again yesterday,” Pruiksma said.

“I didn’t study for it, but I read a lot,” said Cullen, 13. She, too, was a little rattled at the beginning but soon settled into a rhythm while Bee Master Robert Blanchette fed the students selections such as “isobar,” “orthodox,” “mosque,” “fennel” and “chutney.”

“It’s more nervous when you’re sitting down and watching others than when you’re standing at the microphone,” Cullen said. “But once we started, it got easier.”

Nerves hampered each of the 12 contestants in Monday’s bee. Several faltered on difficult words such as “semantics,” “obstinate,” “impetuous” and “anchovy.” Hardly 15 minutes into the competition, the 12-contestant field had been winnowed to six. Fewer than five minutes later, there were three.

Before the competition began, longtime Androscoggin County Spelling Bee Governor Frances Blanchette, wife of Bee Master Robert, stressed that each of the youths already were winners due to their performances at the district bees, and implored them to relax, breathe easy and take their time.

But she knew they all were tightly wound.

“They’re under so much pressure,” she said. “They try so hard that they stress themselves out pretty quickly.”

Montello language arts teacher Bridget Shea said she wasn’t surprised by Pruiksma’s aplomb.

“He’s always reading, always has a book in his hands,” Shea said. “But me, I’m a terrible speller, so I’m I always checking my spelling with Klaas.”