EL CENTRO — The 13th annual Regional Spelling Bee on Wednesday night ultimately came down to a battle between Nathan Ostermann, a seventh grade Wilson Junior High student, and Mia Isabella Gutierrez, a sixth grade student at St. Mary’s Catholic School.
The two were able to spell better than 61 other local contestants over the course of 14 rounds at the Jimmie Cannon Theater at Southwest High School.
Expressionless most of the night, a bright smile drew upon Ostermann’s face after successfully spelling the championship round word, “expropriate,” and being announced as the Regional Spelling Bee winner for a second year in a row.
After winning last year’s regional competition, Ostermann represented the county at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., where he correctly spelled “Pinkerton” in the second round but incorrectly spelled “dietetic” in the third round.
Asked if he had any new strategies for competing at Washington, D.C., this time, Ostermann responded, “Not exactly, just to study more.”
Two students, ranging from grades first to eighth, were selected from each local school to compete in the spelling bee.
By the fifth round, only 10 participants were left, and by round 10, only three spellers remained.
The last five participants in the competition were Ostermann, Gutierrez, Ben Hulse Elementary School fourth-grader Alyssa Flores, Cesar Chavez Elementary sixth-grader Luke Jang, and Wilson Junior High eighth-grader Dhiren Patel.
Words that knocked out the three participants behind Nathan and Alyssa were “analogous”, “apostle” and “afghan”.
The final three rounds were down to Gutierrez and Ostermann. The winner was decided by spelling successfully two rounds in a row.
The St. Mary’s Catholic School sixth-grader eventually fell to the word “chrysanthemum,” while Ostermann correctly spelled “bitumem,” followed by the championship word.
Staff Writer Vincent Osuna can be reached at vosuna@ivpressonline.com or 760-337-3442, www.ivpressonline.com
Spelling Bee Photo Archive can be found here.