JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The 14 best spellers from North Florida competed live Thursday night for a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and for the second year in a row, Erik Williams is moving on to Washington D.C.
The winning word: Allergenic.
“I was pretty sure I knew what the word was, but I wanted to ask all of the questions just to make sure,” Erik said.
He was happy to have his parents and his brother by his side.
“It’s an incredible experience. They’re really supportive of me, and they helped me prepare for this,” Erik said.
Before his back-to-back wins, Erik was a runner-up during the First Coast Spelling Bee in 2018.
The seventh grade St. Johns Country Day student appeared Friday on “The Morning Show.”
RELATED | Interactive map of First Coast Spelling Bee contestants
Erik defended his title at Jacksonville University’s Terry Concert Hall against some top notch competition from counties around Northeast Florida.
News4Jax highlighted each of the 14 spellers during “The Morning Show” last week. For more on who they are, click here.
Here are the contestants in the order that they competed, which was determined by a random drawing.
| Name | Grade | School | County |
|---|---|---|---|
| Erik Williams | 7th | St. Johns Country Day | Clay County |
| Elco Carrasco | 8th | Baker County Middle School | Baker County |
| Manischa Wijayawardhana | 6th | Switzerland Point Middle School | St. Johns County |
| Isabella Hobday | 5th | Branford Elementary School | Suwannee County |
| Anthony “AJ” Todd | 5th | Lake Butler Middle School | Union County |
| Vivie Thelin | 8th | Millhopper Montessori School | Alachua County |
| Armand Kuykendall | 6th | Miller Middle School | Putnam County |
| Ashton Tabor | 7th | Hamilton County High School | Hamilton County |
| Adyson Hammock | 6th | Madison County Central School | Madison County |
| Rosalie Speer | 7th | Fort White Middle/High School | Columbia County |
| Ian Wilking | 5th | St. Michael Academy | Nassau County |
| Morgan King | 7th | Bradford Middle School | Bradford County |
| Julius Graham III | 8th | DuPont Middle School | Duval County |
| Caleb Rimpel | 8th | Christ the King Lutheran | Flagler County |