San Diego kid competes in 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee

• The winner takes home more than $50,000 dollars.

Zoom in: Reinhard, an eighth-grader at Maranatha Christian School in Del Sur, spelled "kenosis" to win his first-ever spelling bee at San Diego County's regional contest in March. That put him through to the national stage.

• He's a whiz with letters but his favorite subject is math and he's a car aficionado, according to his bio.
• When Reinhard's not hitting the books, he's running, biking and performing in school plays.

Flashback: Two spelling bee champs have hailed from San Diego in the competition's 101-year history.

• Poway's Anurag Kashyap won with "appoggiatura" in 2005 and Snigdha Nandipati correctly spelled "guetapens" to lift the trophy in 2012.
• Impressive.

Not so impressive: Californians really need help spelling "embarass," which is the state's most uniquely searched "how do you spell" misspelling, according to Google Trends.

• Did you catch that mistake? If not, you should be embarrassed because the word has two r's.

What's next: Preliminary and quarterfinal rounds will air May 26 and 27 on Scripps Sports Network.

• ESPN senior writer and analyst Mina Kimes will host the semifinals and finals May 27-28 on Ion.