2 Collin County eighth-graders share Dallas Regional Spelling Bee title
By Loyd Brumfield / Dallas Morning News
Two eighth-graders from Frisco middle schools were declared co-champions after battling one-on-one over the final 10 rounds of the Golden Chick Dallas Regional Spelling Bee on Saturday at WFAA-TV’s Victory Park Studio.
Sanjana Kota of Lawler Middle School and Arya Reddyvari of Nelson Middle School, both 13, advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 24 in Washington, D.C., after they were the only two contestants left standing after 26 rounds.
Earlier this year, Sanjana and Arya finished first and second, respectively, in the Collin County Spelling Bee.
On Saturday at WFAA, Arya’s final word was “macilency,” a variant on “macilent,” which means “leanness of the body.”
Sanjana finished up with “hidradenitis,” a word with a meaning as gross as it sounds: a condition that causes small lumps to form under the skin.
Two girls finished in third place: Saida Bidiwala, a 12-year-old seventh-grader at Dallas International School, who represented private schools; and Sriya Gomatam, a 9-year-old fourth-grader at Coppell’s Universal Academy.
In all, 26 contestants from 20 counties competed Saturday. They were among over 100,000 students from some 750 schools who participated in their own spelling bees in a region that includes North and East Texas.
The Dallas spelling bee will be broadcast at 1 p.m. March 22 on WFAA-TV (Channel 8).