STOCKTON – Ishaan Ajay got to play spectator at Wednesday's San Joaquin County Spelling Bee Championship for the Junior High Division.

The Brookside Elementary School (Lincoln Unified) eighth grader had wrapped up the first-place crown by successfully spelling "voluptuous."

The battle for runner-up spot in the seventh- through- ninth- grade competition was between Andrae Raymundo of North Elementary (Tracy Unified) and Rohin Prashanth of Mountain House High (Lammersville Unified).

They were fed words by Spell Master Katie Chapman such as "rhombus," "grandiose," "indefatigable," "caricature," and "delicatessen" in the second-place spelloff.

Raymundo finally secured the spot with the word "meringue."

He and Ajay will represent the County at the State Spelling Bee finals at SJCOE in the spring, according to Spelling Coordinator Erika Chapman.

Thirty-seven students from school districts, charter schools, and private schools throughout the county qualified to compete in the Junior High Division.

Representing Manteca Unified were Johan Arroyo (eighth grade, Sequoia School), Gabriel Estabillo (seventh grade, Neil Hafley), Dimar Gonzalez (eighth grade, New Haven), and Nihar Jain (eighth grade, McParland).

Alex Avarello (eighth grade, Park View), Harvey Keene Dykes (eighth grade, Ripona), and Beauross Yan (seventh grade, Ripon Elementary) were the Ripon Unified participants.

From the area private and charter schools were Joselle Go (eighth grade, St. Anthony’s), Prakrit Bharadwaj (eighth grade, River Island Technology Academy), and Euan Costales (eighth grade, STEAM Academy).

The earlier rounds consisted of words such as "betrothal," "tarantula," "epidermis," and "cologne."

Bharadwaj (River Islands), Go (St. Anthony's) and Jain (McParland) advanced to the Top 10 

The Spelling Bee championships, which were postponed last year due to COVID-19, were sponsored by Premier Community Credit Union and the SJCOE Educational Foundation.