The 2024 San Diego County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee began at the Jackie Robinson YMCA Thursday, with more than 80 students from grades six to eight competing to represent the county at the National Spelling Bee. The winner will represent San Diego County at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the Washington, D.C. area in late May, with semifinals and finals in June. Walter Ritter, executive director of Write Out Loud, will be the official word pronouncer for the event. In 2023, Mihir Konkapaka won the spelling bee for the second consecutive year winning by correctly spelling exsufflation, a word meaning "forcible breathing or blowing out (as in clearing the respiratory tract)." "I'm excited because the words were really intense and there was no way I could prepare for that," the seventh grader from Mesa Verde Middle School in the Poway Unified School District said. When accepting the trophy, Mihir thanked his school librarian and teacher for helping him in his preparation for the bee. Jedd Li, an eighth grader at Francis Parker School, finished second for the second consecutive year. MORE: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/local/more-than-80-middle-school-students-compete-in-the-san-diego-county-scripps-regional-spelling-bee/509-09f39464-178f-4769-9490-9f2e93ecb8d5