All NC students now out of Spelling Bee. Here’s the word that took semifinalist out.
A Wake County elementary school student made it to the 2023 Scripps National Spelling Bee semifinals before being eliminated Wednesday.
Reyansh Joshi, 11, was the only North Carolina speller to make the semifinals after surviving the grueling preliminary rounds on Tuesday and the quarterfinals on Wednesday morning. The fifth-grade student at Mills Park Elementary School in Cary was eliminated when he incorrectly spelled “dipylon.”
Joshi had started out among a field of 231 spellers from around the world before joining the 56 contestants in the semifinal round. No one from North Carolina has won the Bee since 1970.
Triangle spellers
Eight spellers from North Carolina, including five from the Triangle, qualified for this year’s bee.
On Tuesday, Isaiah Henry from Grady A. Brown Elementary School in Hillsborough, Lila Rechel from Coats Erwin Middle School in Dunn and Olivia Tolentino of Cleveland Middle School in Johnston County were eliminated.
Ananya Rao Prassanna, a sixth-grade student at Davis Drive Middle School in Cary, advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinals before being eliminated.
Joshi advanced on Wednesday by correctly spelling “pittance” and “alegar” in the quarterfinals.
How to watch the 2023 National Spelling Bee
The Ion Channel will air a recorded version of the semifinals on Wednesday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The finals will be aired live on Thursday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. For more, go to spellingbee.com/watch.
