Tamale. Avifauna. Paparazzo. Tachometer.

They're the words that stumped West spellers in the 58th Annual Western Pennsylvania Spelling Bee, sponsored Saturday by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and the Carnegie Science Center at the Frick Fine Arts Building at the University of Pittsburgh.

Jeremy Pople, 12, of Mt. Lebanon, was the winner of the regional bee, which lasted more than 10 rounds and consisted of more than 100 students in grades 4-8.

Runner-up was Nick Luchini, 12, of Robinson, a seventh-grader at Holy Trinity Catholic School in Robinson, who misspelled avifauna by incorrectly substituting "ph" for the "f."

"I knew that I did not have a chance," Nick said, admitting that he had never heard of the word. "It was a great experience. I really enjoyed it."

He knew to begin the word with "avi" because the definition -- birds of a region -- suggested a spelling like the word aviation. He had no idea, however, how to spell the rest of the word.

An accomplished speller, Nick is a four-year spelling champ at Holy Trinity. With coaching from his mother, who was a bee competitor in school, he has advanced to the Diocesan competition three times.

Marissa Fiedler, of Neville, a seventh-grader at Cornell Junior High School, misspelled tamale as tamalle. She is a band member, honor roll student and a member of the student council.

Despite her lucky pink, green and blue hand-knitted scarf, Allison Murphy, of Crescent, a seventh-grader at Moon Area Middle School, spelled paparazzo with two p's.

"I debated in my mind whether there were 1 or 2 p's," Allison said. "I finally convinced myself that where were two. I was pretty happy making it to the finals. It was a great experience."

Kevin Nelson, a seventh-grader from Bridgeville who attends Chartiers Valley Middle School in Collier, misspelled "scurrilous." Several years ago, his older brother qualified for the bee as an eighth-grader.

Emily Shawgo, grade 8, who is home schooled in Scott, was eliminated when she did not include "h" in her misspelling of tachometer.

"Last year, I tied for seventh place in the finals so I felt I was well prepared this [time] so I did not study as much," Emily said. "Although I was disappointed, I felt it was bad luck on getting that word because I was able to spell most of the other words in the competition."