NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Two Cincinnati-area spellers made a field of 50 finalists that will compete for the $50,000 top prize in the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday.
Sebastian Castilla, 13, of Schilling School for Gifted Children in Cincinnati, and Sheridan Hennessy, 13, of Walnut Hills High School will join 48 others on the stage for the day session at 10 a.m. on ESPN2, with the finals continuing on ESPN at 8:30 p.m.
Sebastian Castilla
Castilla, an eighth-grader, was this year’s WCPO/Ohio regional winner, and Hennessy, a seventh-grader, was the WCPO/Ohio regional bee winner in 2017. Hennessy was able to enter this year's national bee through the new RSVBee program.
Hundreds of spellers successfully completed Round 3 Wednesday, but only the 50 with the highest scores on Monday's preliminary test made the finals.
Castilla (No. 389) successfully spelled "adaptation" in Round 3 while Hennessy (No. 449) mastered "conchology."
Three other local spellers passed Round 3:
• No. 224 - Tyler Turnpaugh, St. Pius X School, Edgewood, Kentucky ("denigrate")
• No. 357 - Noah Paticoff, Symmes Elementary School, Loveland, Ohio ("defamation")
• No. 360 - Kolton Manuel, Salem Township Elementary School, Morrow, Ohio ("pandemic")
One local speller was eliminated in the third round. Henry Campbell (No. 380) of Highlands Middle School in Fort Thomas, Kentucky, misspelled “abacus.”
RELATED: Local whiz-kids pass Round 2.
Viewers can also watch Thursday's sessions on the ESPN App and play along on ESPNU.
MORE: Meet the six spellers from the Tri-State.
