Mihir Konkapaka. Photo Credit: San Diego County Office of Education
The lone San Diego County contestant in the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee was eliminated in the third round Tuesday.
Mihir Konkapaka misspelled antiphonal, an adjective meaning sung, recited, or played alternately by two groups. The sixth grader from Poway Unified School District Connect Academy spelled it antifinal.
Mihir began Tuesday’s competition at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland by correctly spelling gypsophila, any of various plants of the genus Gypsophila in the pink family. In the second round, he correctly answered the multiple-choice word meaning question, “What is a reprisal?” selecting, “an act of retaliation, as for an injury or other harm.”
The 11-year-old qualified for the national bee by winning the San Diego Union-Tribune Countywide Spelling Bee on March 17. His winning word was sabreur, a noun meaning one who fences with a light dueling sword.
City News Service contributed to this article.