For the second year in a row, East Setauket's Ryan Himmelsbach was the last person standing at the Long Island Regional Spelling Bee.

A total of 41 Long Island students competed Sunday for the top spot in the regional Scripps Spelling Bee at Hofstra University. But Himmelsbach, a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Paul J Gelinas Junior High in East Setauket, managed to walk away with his second win.

"I'm really proud about it," he tells News 12. "To me, it's a huge achievement."

Himmelsbach's winning word was "teleost," and he also correctly spelled "chevalet" and "apoptosis" in the final rounds. Now, he'll go on to represent Long Island at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

His passion for sounding out complicated words emerged as a talent early in life.

"Since the time he could talk, he was very interested in books and always pointing out words saying, 'What does that mean, what does that say?'" says his mother, Allison Himmelsbach.

Himmelsbach spends several hours every day studying vocabulary words, and his mastery of spelling means he can figure out words that he's never heard before.

"I pick up on a lot of patterns and roots from different languages which helps a lot when I have to spell a word I've never heard of exactly," the student says.

Now he's hoping to be the next C-H-A-M-P. The Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held from May 27 through June 1 in Maryland.