Maya Matava of Hebron, Md. won the 2016 Maryland Eastern Shore Regional Spelling Bee held Saturday, March 7, at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. (Photo credit: Joey Gardner)

The 12-year-old representing Salisbury Middle School emerged the winner after 90 minutes, demonstrating her ability to spell and correctly define words over 16 rounds.

The winning word was “herbivore” after Maya correctly spelled “empanada” to put herself in a position to win the event.

The runner-up was Cochlyn Carmean, 11, a Fruitland Intermediate School fifth-grader who went head-to-head with Maya for three rounds before stumbling on the word “stipple.”

Maya will represent a four-county region – Dorchester, Somerset, Wicomico and Worcester – at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington this May.

UMES  sponsors the annual competition as an outreach initiative to local schools, which employ the university’s graduates or provide practice-teaching opportunities for its students.

Maya, who competed a year ago as a representative of North Salisbury Elementary School, bested more than 50 other spellers to win the 2016 title, which included a keepsake medallion and Webster’s Third New International Dictionary.

For the first time, the spelling bee at UMES included a homeschooled student and two Worcester County competitors who attend Snow Hill Middle School.

Following the competition, Maya told those offering congratulations she was nervous under bright lights in the Fitzgerald Center for the Performing Arts.

“I was the one who was nervous,” her mother, Lynn Matava, said. “I’m not sure this has sunk in for her or me, yet.”

Group photo of all of the student participants in Saturday morning’s 2016 Maryland Eastern Shore Regional Spelling Bee. (Photo credit: Joey Gardner)

Pictured at right: Maya Matava, a Salisbury Middle School student who came in first place at Saturday morning’s 2016 Maryland Eastern Shore Regional Spelling Bee. Pictured at far-left: Lochlyn Carmean, 11, a Fruitland Intermediate School fifth-grader who came in second. Pictured second from left: Bill Robinson, director of public relations for UMES, who emceed the event. (Photo credit: Kye Parsons)