Round 1 Words Out/Semifinals

Spellers had to get at least 23 points to advance to semifinals, and fifty spellers will be heading to semifinals.    http://cdn.spellingbee.com/bee/round_one.pdf. I read in a news article that Vanya Shivashankar was the only speller to get a perfect score.

Semifinals will commence at 10:00 A.M. Eastern Time, and it will be nerve-wracking. Although I am not competing, I feel as if I am going to faint. As I was working on advanced assignments, I was sweating, and I got very dizzy. 

There may be many favorites this year, but I have no idea who will win. 

Possibilities of the Champion

Five-Peats and Four Peats: #31 - Rahul Malayappan and #193 - Nicholas Rushlow; #49 - Rachael Cundey, #79 - Gina Solomito, and #94 - Emily Keaton

2011 National Spelling Bee Finalists: #155 - Nabeel Rahman and #162 - Arvind Mahankali (highest returning finisher from last year)

Canadians: #25 - Jennifer Mong and #27 - Mignon Tsai

Spellers Who Were One Round Off of Making it to Championship Finals: #40 Grace Remmer, #42 Vaidya Govindarajan

Others - #19 - Snigdha Nandipati, #44 - Stuti Mishra, #66 - Pranav Sivakumar, #89 - Gifton Wright, #92 - Vanya Shivashankar, #185 - Sunny Levine, #237 - Chetan Reddy, #213 - Lena Greenberg #254 - Vismaya Kharkar, and #264 - Jae Canetti

I am almost sure that one of these spellers will win! Perhaps there may be co-champions! Good luck to the remaining fifty spellers!