NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — And then there were 2. Megan Barrientos from Princess Anne and Lauren Merillana of Bethesda are the last two of the Maryland competitors in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. After six rounds, 57 of the 243 spellers remain.
Arya Bhavaniskar from Frederick County was eliminated in round 4. He misspelled "surtax," an additional tax on something already taxed, such as a higher rate of tax on incomes above a certain level. Luke Noblezada of Howard County made it to the 6th round, but misspelled "oriency."
On Wednesday night, the semifinals will be broadcast live on ION from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., followed by the finals on Thursday from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
ION is channel 2.5. WMAR is owned by the same company as ION.
