Cool and collected, Kavya Shivashankar wrote out every word on her palm and always ended with a smile. The 13-year-old Kansas girl saved the biggest smile for last, when she rattled off the letters to “Laodicean” to become the nation’s spelling champion. Second place went to 12-year-old Tim Ruiter of Centreville, the only non-teenager in the finals. He misspelled “maecenas,“ which means a cultural benefactor.

It was “ferrule” that spelled the end of the road for Chesterfield County’s Michael Whalon yesterday at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington. Defined as “a ring or cap usually of metal put around a slender shaft to strengthen it or prevent splitting,“ Michael had never heard the word. It was the second he received in the third round of competition after correctly spelling “pulmonary” earlier in the day.

The temperature is rising, but Michael Whalon of Chesterfield County isn’t sweating the Washington heat. Whalon, 14, arrived in the nation’s capital with his family Sunday to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, where he will represent the Richmond region. He attends Bailey Bridge Middle School. Yesterday, he and the other 292 spellers from across the U.S. and beyond took the Round 1 test, spelling 50 words on a computer, each worth one point toward their preliminary score.

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After nine rounds of scrunch-faced spellings and a few gleefully lucky guesses, Michael Whalon terminated his competition with “eviscerate” yesterday in the 35th annual Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee.

Michael Whalon didn’t exactly E-V-I-S-C-E-R-A-T-E his competition, but rather carefully outspelled them one word at a time until he nailed that winning word. The Chesterfield County 14-year-old won the 35th annual Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee this afternoon and now heads to Washington to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee to represent the Richmond region.

The champions from 33 school divisions will compete this month in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee to determine who will represent the region in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The national bee will be May 26-28 in Washington. The final rounds will be televised on ESPN. The regional bee will be at 1 p.m. March 14 at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The winner will receive a $1,500 scholarship from The Times-Dispatch and an expenses-paid trip to Washington for the winner and family the week of the national bee.

The champions from 33 school divisions will compete this month in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee to determine who will represent the region in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The national bee will be May 26-28 in Washington. The final rounds will be televised on ESPN. The regional bee will be at 1 p.m. March 14 at the Library of Virginia in Richmond. The winner will receive a $1,500 scholarship from The Times-Dispatch and an expenses-paid trip to Washington for the winner and family the week of the national bee.

Edmonds Adams Johnson Whirley Whalon Bousquet Deane Cobb Kemp Allison Ortiz-Clark The champions from 33 school divisions will compete this month in the Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee to determine who will represent the region in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The national bee will be May 26-28 in Washington. The final rounds will be televised on ESPN.