CINCINNATI — Two spellers representing the Tri-State in the 95th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee were knocked out Tuesday.
William "Liam" Bedinghaus, from Loveland, misspelled "Deimos," the name of one of the moons that orbits Mars, in his first round.
Tara Rakesh, an 8th grader at Ballyshannon Middle School in Florence, was unable to provide the accurate definition of the word "fungible" during her second round.
More than 230 spellers from the U.S., Bahamas, Canada and Ghana will compete for the championship beginning May 30. The annual event is being held just outside of Washington D.C. at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
Rakesh and Bedinghaus both won at their regional bees in March.
Rakesh spelled the world "promontory" to advance to the national bee. The 14-year-old from Florence is appearing in her third Scripps National Spelling Bee. In her first appearance in 2021, she tied for 31st, and she then tied for 89th in 2022.
Bedinghaus secured his victory to the national bee by spelling "germanium" in the regional bee. This was the first Scripps National Spelling Bee appearance for the 12-year-old Mars Hill Academy 6th grader.
The spelling bee consists of four different rounds: The preliminaries, the quarterfinals, the semifinals and the finals.
The preliminaries kicked off on May 30 at 9 a.m. The quarterfinals and semifinals are May 31 and the finals will be held June 1. Click here to figure out how you can watch the 95th Scripps National Spelling Bee.
