National Spelling Bee: North Texas teen who finished 2nd last year advances to final round
DALLAS - Just one North Texan is advancing to the final round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Spelling Bee Finalist from Texas
What we know:
Faizan Zaki from Allen is one of nine students who made it to the finals.
The 13-year-old 7th grader attends Rice Middle School in Plano and is sponsored by the Dallas Sports Commission.
According to his bio on the competition website, when he isn’t studying, he loves to play video games, chat with friends, speed-solve the Rubik's cube, learn new languages, and play the viola.
The backstory:
Last year, Zaki was the runner-up of the whole contest, only losing during a "spell-off" tiebreaker.
He and Bruhat Soma from St. Petersburg, Florida, competed through 14 rounds of spelling and ultimately tied. But Zaki fell to second after the lightning round.
Plano ISD 12-year-old Faizan Zaki places 2nd at the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Faizan Zaki has just placed runner-up in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
He still beat out more than 240 other spellers and went home with $25,000.
This is Zaki’s fourth year at the national spelling bee. He competed in 2019 when he was just 7 years old. He also finished in 21st place in 2023.
What's next:
The final round is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Thursday.
It will be streaming online at spellingbee.com and will air on TV on Ion.
In 96 bees over the past 100 years, only four runners-up have later gone on to win.
The Source: The information in this story comes from the Scripps National Spelling Bee website and past news coverage.