National Spelling Bee: Three from Bay Area will compete in final
Over two days, the initial field of 231 was winnowed to 11 through five rounds of spelling and three of vocabulary.
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — In an impressive display of regional brainpower, the three Bay Area contestants at the Scripps National Spelling Bee survived Wednesday’s rounds and will compete in Thursday night’s final for the winner’s trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
Over two days, the initial field of 231 was winnowed to 11 through five rounds of spelling and three of vocabulary.
The Bay Area spellers are:
- Shradha Rachamreddy, 13, a seventh-grader at BASIS Independent Silicon Valley Upper School, in San Jose. She finished 23rd last year, when she attended Quarry Lane School, in Dublin.
- Vikrant Chintanaboina, 14, an eighth-grader at Discovery Charter School – Falcon Campus, in San Jose. He was 49th last year.
- Dhruv Subramanian, 12, a seventh-grader at Windemere Ranch Middle School, in San Ramon.
Given that nearly everyone who competes in the National Spelling Bee ultimately misses a word, the default posture for spellers is nervous, flustered, defensive. Even the most well-prepared kids know the bell could ring at any time.
Scott Remer, who coaches six of the finalists including Dhruv and Shradha, instructs his pupils to pace themselves and ask any question that might be helpful.
Sticking to a routine, even if the speller knows a word right away, can keep spellers relaxed and prevent flubs.
“There’s a certain confidence that comes from having kind of a checklist,” Remer said. “You’re not floundering on stage. You know what you need to do, you know when you need to do it, and it is a procedure that you can follow to analyze the word and break it down methodically.”
In Wednesday’s rounds, Shradha tackled the spelling words thalpotic, newelty and loratadine and the vocabulary words whirligig and timorous. Vikrant drew atypia, mispickel, sacalait and (vocabulary) malarkey and lycanthrope, and Dhruv had Claritin, saphena, ébauchoir and (vocabulary) rigmarole and odium.
The eight other finalists are:
- Arth Dalsania, 14, Camarillo Academy of Progressive Education, Camarillo (Ventura County)
- Dev Shah, 14, Morgan Fitzgerald Middle School, Pinellas Park, Fla.
- Aryan Khedkar, 12, Baker Middle School, Troy, Mich.
- Sarah Fernandes, 11, St. Stephen the Martyr Catholic School, Omaha, Neb.
- Pranav Anandh, 14, Garnet Valley Middle School, Glen Mills, Pa.
- Tarini Nandakumar, 12, Challenger School – Avery Ranch, Austin, Texas
- Surya Kapu, 14, American Preparatory Academy – Draper 3, Draper, Utah
- Charlotte Walsh, 14, homeschooled, Arlington, Va.
The presence of just one Texan in the final field marked a break from that state’s recent domination of the bee. Last year, the champion and three other finalists were from Texas; of the most recent 18 champions, seven were from Texas.
The last Bay Area winner was Rishik Gandhasri of San Jose, who was one of eight spellers crowned co-champions in 2019. Since then, organizers have changed the protocol in an attempt to name a single champion.
In 2007, Evan O’Dorney, a homeschooled Danville boy, took the title.
The final starts at 5 p.m. Pacific time Thursday. It will be streamed on ION Plus and Bounce XL, with a television broadcast on ION, which is free through multiple providers (more information on viewing).