SAN DIEGO — A Twin Peaks Middle School eighth grader Thursday won the 2024 San Diego County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee and will represent the county at the National Spelling Bee.
Benjamin Evans earned the title by successfully spelling the word "epihippus," an extinct genus of the modern horse family that lived in the Eocene era, 46-38 million years ago. He will represent San Diego County at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the Washington, D.C. area in late May, with semifinals and finals in June.
Evans beat fellow Poway Unified School District student Mihir Konkapaka, an eighth grader from Mesa Verde Middle School and two-time champion of the county bee.
A total of 84 spellers began the competition at the Jackie Robinson YMCA on Thursday, with Evans and Konkapaka the only two remaining in the 12th round.
In 2023, Konkapaka won the spelling bee for the second consecutive year winning by correctly spelling exsufflation, a word meaning "forcible breathing or blowing out (as in clearing the respiratory tract)."
In May 2023, he was eliminated in the fourth round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. He misspelled chessel, a cheese vat, spelling it chestle.
The original field consisted of 231 spellers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Canada, the Bahamas, Germany and Ghana. There were 59 spellers eliminated in the first round, 33 in the second and 19 in the third, reducing the field to 121 for the fourth round.
Dev Shah of Largo, Florida, won the 2023 bee upon correctly spelling the word psammophile -- a plant or animal that thrives in sandy environs -- after Charlotte Walsh of Merrifield, Virginia spelled daviely -- a Scottish word meaning listlessly -- incorrectly.
Konkapaka reached the third round of the 2022 national bee. Two San Diego County spellers have won the national bee -- Anurag Kashyap in 2005 and Snigdha Nandipati in 2012.
"The Spelling Bee is a time-honored academic competition that any student can participate in to connect with school and develop skills that will help them in the future," said Paul Gothold, San Diego County superintendent of schools. "Students learn to set goals, dedicate time to studying and gain experience in public speaking, all of which are useful in college, career and life."
Watch Related: More than 80 middle school students compete in the San Diego County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee (Mar 14, 2024)