A student from Carmel Valley correctly spelled "gradine" to win the 49th annual UT San Diego Countywide Spelling Bee.
Kevin Luo, 13, an eighth grader at Pacific Trails Middle School, will now represent San Diego County in the national spelling bee.
Nearly 100 students spelled a multitude of words on Thursday at Liberty Station during the local competition.
Word wizards from grades 6 to 8 that attend public and independent schools across San Diego County fought for a spot in the National Spelling Competition, said an event spokesperson.
The first round included relatively easy words like "bagel," "dejected" and "loiter. However, the words quickly became more complicated, said a spokesperson. More than half the competitors were knocked out in the first and second rounds.
Before noon, students had already grappled with unusual words like "menhaden," "cynosure," "balalaika," "springerle," "ersatz," "topeng" and "huckster."
Two other spellers placed in the final round of the spelling bee with Luo. That included Bennett Wade, a seventh grader at Classical Academy and Felipe Contreras, a seventh grader at Pacific Beach Middle School.
In May, the Scripps National Spelling Bee will be held near Washington, D.C. Last year's Countywide Spelling Bee champion, Yash Hande, will help prep Luo for the national competition. Hande attended the same middle school as Luo.
Historically, San Diego County has delivered some winning candidates to the national scene, said the spokesperson. The last local champions to win national competitions included Francis Parker School student Snigdha Nandipati in 2012 and Poway student Anurag Kashyap in 2005.
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“The Spelling Bee is a time-honored academic competition that I’m glad is still practiced and applauded today,” said Dr. Paul Gothold, San Diego County superintendent of schools, in a statement.
