Ohio kids are competing for the spelling bee crown

Zoom in: They include just one Central Ohioan.

• That's Blue Jackets-sponsored Aayu Chamoli, a 10-year-old fifth grader from Olentangy's Freedom Trail Elementary.
• He qualified by winning a regional competition.

Plus: Joseph Keffer, an 11-year-old sponsored by Ohio University's E.W. Scripps School of Journalism in Athens, is also competing.

• Though his sponsor is nearby, he goes to Chesapeake Middle School near the Ohio River in the southern tip of the state.

📺 How to watch: In 2022, the bee ended a 27-year run on ESPN with a move to Scripps-owned network Ion, available on most streaming and cable providers.

• Preliminaries and quarterfinals are on Scripps Sports Network Tuesday and Wednesday morning.
• Semifinals begin Wednesday at 8pm, with finals Thursday at 8pm.
• The full schedule.

🤔 Spelling along at home? We hope you're better at it than many Ohioans.

• According to Google Trends, our most common "how do you spell..." search is for "cophing."
• 😬 That's "coughing," in case you weren't sure.