Local Boy Competes in National Spelling Bee

NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND (WJON News) - A speller from Royalton Middle School will not advance past the preliminaries at the National Spelling Bee.

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Will Rausch is one of five spellers from Minnesota at the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week in National Harbor, Maryland.

In the preliminary round, Rausch could not correctly spell “Gegenschein”, which is a very faint light seen in the night sky caused by the sun’s reflection of gas and dust in the atmosphere.

There are 231 spellers in this year’s competition. Texas hosts the largest delegation with 21 competitors, followed by California and Ohio with 15, and Illinois with 14 spellers advancing to the national competition.

There are five spellers from Minnesota:

• Will Rausch from Royalton
• Vihaan Kapil from Arden Hills
• Maximus Katsoulis from Fergus Falls
• Elijah Elledge from Mankato
• Roberto Villasboas from Rochester

Of the five Minnesota spellers, only two will advance to the second round. Kapil correctly spelled zaibatsu (a large Japanese business conglomerate) and Katsoulis correctly spelled camembert (a type of cheese).

Follow the entire tournament here.

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