The Scripps National Spelling Bee starts Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
The competition features 285 spellers from all 50 states, plus American Samoa, Canada, District of Columbia, Europe, Ghana, Guam, Jamaica, Japan, Puerto Rico, South Korea, The Bahamas, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
There are two local spellers competing — Speller 258 is 14-year-old Eliza Willett from Virginia Beach and Speller 174 is 11-year-old Blake Cabral of Buxton, North Carolina.
(Left: Blake Cabral ; Right: Eliza Willett)
This is Eliza’s second year competing in the Bee. Her sister Caroline competed in 2009 and 2012, and her sister Rebecca competed in 2007 and 2008.
This is the first trip to the Bee for Blake.
You can watch a live stream of the Bee on WatchESPN.com or through the WatchESPN app.
The preliminaries will air on ESPN 3 on Wednesday, beginning at 8 a.m. The semifinals will air on ESPN 2 on Thursday, beginning at 10 a.m. The finals will air on ESPN on Thursday at 8 p.m.
