From left, Aadhya Adhikari, Kenzi Cunningham, Kayley Schneider and Aybree McHenry celebrate placing during The Marietta Times Regional Spelling Bee on Friday evening at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players in Marietta. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

The Marietta Times Regional Spelling Bee took place at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre on Friday evening.

Students from across Washington, Pleasants, Wood and Monroe counties competed for the coveted grand prize and the opportunity to move onto the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.

The winner of this year’s spelling bee was Aadhya Adhikari of Veritas Classical Academy.

During Friday’s competition, energy buzzed across the theater with more than 100 people there to either participate in the bee or to support their friends and family. Three students from Switzerland of Ohio Local Schools eagerly discussed their hopes for the spelling bee’s results and their general sense of nerves.

“I feel nervous right now, because I never made it this far, and it’s my first time dealing with it.” said Jayden McGuire, 14, a seventh grade student at River Elementary School.

From left, Aybree McHenry and Kayley Schneider compete for third and second place during The Marietta Times Regional Spelling Bee. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

Stefan Eikleberry, 12, a seventh grade student at River Elementary School, agreed, “I’m just here because I was doing this for fun, I feel very nervous.”

Other students were given a second chance to fill in as an alternate for the spelling bee. Evan Huffman, who is an eighth-grader at St. Mary Catholic School, shared his surprise.

“I’m here because somebody opted out and I was the alternate,” said Huffman. “Last year I got knocked out when I probably shouldn’t have got knocked out. And this year, I just decided to compete in my class bee again, and I did really well.”

The spelling bee itself was split into two groups taking four finalists from each group to compete for the top four positions.

The final eight were:

From left, Aadhya Adhikari and Kenzi Cunningham compete for the grand prize during The Marietta Times Regional Spelling Bee on Friday evening. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

* Kayley Schneider – Switzerland of Ohio

* Cannon Thomas – Pleasants County Schools

* Kyle Moore – St. Marys Catholic School

* Kenzi Cunningham – St. Marys Catholic School

* Aadhya Adhikari – Veritas Classical Academy

George Wells, center, gives instructions to the first group during The Marietta Times Regional Spelling Bee on Friday evening at the Mid-Ohio Valley Players Theatre. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

* Isaiah Dehmlow – Veritas Classical Academy

* Aybree McHenry – Frontier Local Schools

* Lizbyn Cole – St. Sylvester Central

The words grew more and more difficult narrowing down to the final four which included, Cunningham, Adhikari, McHenry and Cole. Adhikari and Cunningham fought for the grand prize and second place bouncing words back and forth until Cunningham made a mistake and Adhikari correctly spelled her final word, possessive.

The final ranking was:

Maximilian Taylor, an eighth grader from Marietta High School, picks up his name tag during The Marietta Time Regional Spelling Bee on Friday night. (Photo by Gwen Sour)

* Grand Prize – Aadhya Adhikari

* Second – Kenzi Cunningham

* Third – Kayley Schneider

* Fourth – Aybree McHenry

After being crowned the grand prize winner, Adhikari said, “I felt really nervous, but it was super exciting.”

The Scripps National Spelling Bee will take place from May 25-31.