NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -There is no region better represented at this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee than Northeast Ohio. Three local spellers survived a grueling written exam and two rounds of on-stage spelling Wednesday to advance to Thursday's finals.
The trio from this corner of the state are among four Buckeyes who made it to the finals. Out of 284 spellers who participated in this year's Bee, only 45 are advancing to tomorrow's finals.
Andrew France of Chagrin Falls, of Shiv Dewan of North Canton and Medina's Owen Kovalik are among the elite group of spellers moving on in the Bee.
Kovalik finished just outside the top 10 last year, after he misspelled "xenodochium." Had he spelled the word correctly, he likely would have been in the group that spelled in the primetime section of the Spelling Bee.
Kovalik's two words he spelled correctly on Wednesday were "isotopic" and "domineering."
France, an eighth grader from Ohio Virtual Academy, correctly spelled "flambeau" and "pygopodous" correctly on stage Wednesday.
St. Thomas Aquinas Middle School eighth grader Dewan correctly spelled "salutary" and "serricorn" correctly on Wednesday.
The finals of the Spelling Bee will be televised live on ESPN2 beginning at 10 a.m., with action carrying over to ESPN at 8 p.m.
Justin Boggs is a writer for WEWS. Follow him on Twitter @jjboggs or on Facebook.
