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33 champion spellers will square off in regional spelling bee

Timothy Bill recently won the spelling bee at Quincy's Central Middle School for the second year in a row, but he knows the competition will be tougher in the next round.

The field of contestants for The Patriot Ledger's 25th annual Regional Spelling Bee includes three-time regional champion Akshat Shekhar, 12, of Quincy.

This year's regional bee will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lombardo's in Randolph.

Timothy, who is also 12, said Akshat is "a really excellent speller, and all of my friends have probably said that I'll lose to him. I've been studying, so I've been hoping for the best."

Last year, Akshat advanced to the fifth round of the 2007 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., before misspelling "tufoli," the word for a tube-shaped noodle. He spelled it with two F's.

The Roxbury Latin School eighth-grader is the favorite in the Ledger's regional bee this year. He will go up against 32 other middle school champions from the South Shore, five of whom are repeat winners at their schools.

This year's Ledger champ will win a trip for two to Washington for the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee, which will take place in late May. The top regional speller also will win a $100 savings bond donated by Jay Sugarman and a Webster's Third New International Dictionary donated by Merriam-Webster.

The runner-up will receive a $75 gift card, a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate and a Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary courtesy of Merriam-Webster. The third-place speller will receive a $50 gift card and a $20 Amazon.com certificate.

Each speller participating in the regional bee will get a plaque and a certificate.

Eighth-grader Michelle Parris studied 800 to 1,000 words every day before her victory in the bee at Scituate's Gates Intermediate School.

"It was really exciting since I worked really hard for it," Michelle said.

With the regional bee less than a week away, she's studying even harder now.

"I'm really nervous, since there's going to be a lot of good people there," she said.

Here are the other South Shore students who qualified for the regional bee:

Rian Lundquist of Frolio Junior High School, Abington; Patrick Ward of St. Bridget School, Abington; Daniel Fontes of South Middle School, Braintree; Brennan Sullivan of Galvin Middle School, Canton; Michael Livingstone of Cohasset Middle School; Corey Smith of St. Ann School, Dorchester; Savhanna Vara of Halifax Elementary School; Jefferson Tran of Hanover Middle School; Owen Mulledy of Hanson Middle School; Paul Dunphy of Memorial Middle School, Hull; Charlie Howard of Silver Lake Regional Middle School, Kingston; Folashadé Olukoga of Pierce Middle School, Milton; Caitlin Wong of St. Agatha School, Milton; Fiona Riordan of Sacred Heart School, Quincy; Nicole DiPietrantonio of St. Jerome School, Weymouth; James Arnold of Norwell Middle School; Kevin Chao of South Shore Charter Public School, Norwell; Megan Royek of Bryantville Elementary School, Pembroke; Tristan Hussey of Hobomock Elementary School, Pembroke; James Hines of Dennett Elementary School, Plympton; Brandi Parker of Broad Meadows Middle School, Quincy; Tiffany Lo of St. Ann School, Quincy; Aravindh Ajithkumar of St. Mary School, Quincy; Taysiman Haque of Randolph Community Middle School; Mary Kelliher of Holy Family School, Rockland; Lauren Scott of Rogers Middle School, Rockland; Anthony Earabino of Bird Middle School, Walpole; Nick Ferguson of Johnson Middle School, Walpole; Adam Beady of Abigail Adams Middle School, Weymouth; Cory Kennedy of Maria Weston Chapman Middle School, Weymouth.

Edward B. Colby may be reached at ecolby@ledger.com.