LEWISTON – Imogen Page, 14, of East Blue Hill, repeated as Maine’s spelling champion at a statewide competition held in Lewiston on Saturday.

Thirteen spellers participated in the event, which took place at Trinity Catholic School.

Page, an eighth-grader at Blue Hill Consolidated School, will head to Washington, D.C., for the second year in a row to compete in the national spelling bee. During her previous attempt, she was eliminated in the third round.

“Last year, I dreamed of making the state bee,” Page said. “At every stage of competition, I was just so happy to be there. This year, I knew the system; I knew what it took.”

Page, who successfully spelled words such as “virtuoso” and “prodigal,” cruised to victory in eight rounds.

The real battle was waged for second and third place. Sixth-grader Lily Koffman of Orono finally bested eighth-grader Rachel Borch of Hope after an additional 13 rounds of spelling. Koffman earned the title of runner-up by spelling “sukiyaki” before Borch stumbled on her final word, “homogeneous.”

Norm Karkos of WMTW Channel 8 served as the competition’s bee master. The judges were Lewiston Mayor Larry Gilbert; Judy Meyer, the Sun Journal’s daytime managing editor; and Donna Steckino, the chief executive officer at Community Credit Union.