Can you spell winner?

It’s a pretty sure bet that Forrestdale School eighth grader Sage Basri can. The 13-year-old Rumson girl, one of 30 fourth through eighth grade participants, won the school’s spelling bee on Jan. 30, according to a Rumson School District press release.

Basri’s victory came when she correctly spelled the “championship” word anathema, the release said. Sixth grader Michael Benedetto came in second, it added, when he became the only other student who qualified for the final round by correctly spelling the word exonerate.

The Forrestdale students who competed in the school-wide spelling bee qualified through precursor grade-level competitions.

Now, the release added, Basri will head to the Monmouth University Spelldown Competition on March 16 to 17.

That event features 8- to 14-year-old spelling champions from Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties. The winner of Spelldown will go on to represent the region this spring in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

Forrestdale School Technology teacher Mark Panas served as the spelling bee coordinator/master of ceremonies. Fifth grade teacher Aimee Humbert was the spelling bee’s official “wordsmith,” or word -caller.

Judges were: eighth grade Social Studies teacher Michele Devoy, eighth grade English/Language Arts teacher Caroline DeWyngaert, and seventh grade English/Language Arts teacher and Curriculum Specialist Kristen Feyereisen.