Oklahoma Christian School student wins regional spelling bee

In the Harry Potter series, it’s a 1,000-year-old venomous snake.

To Rohan Rajeev, it’s the word that earned him a chance to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee being held later this spring in Washington, D.C.

Rajeev and 37 other students battled it out Saturday in the Central Oklahoma Scripps Spelling Bee, which was held at the University of Oklahoma’s Reynolds Performing Arts Center.

In round 29, Rajeev correctly spelled “basilisk,” a type of lizard found in Central and South American rain forests, to take the win.

Coming in second was Chloe Cagle, a student at Durant Middle School. Cagle stumbled on the word “patten,” defined as a shoe or clog with a raised sole, in round 28.

While the winning word was an easy one for Rajeev, a few earlier words had him on his toes.

“I was a little nervous,” he said. “A couple of words were hard.”

Rajeev, an eighthgrader at Oklahoma Christian School in Edmond, has been participating in spelling bees since third grade.

His interest was sparked after watching the movie “Spellbound,” but his passion for language began much earlier than that, said his dad, Rajeev Muralidharan.

“His sister taught him the alphabet when he was three,” Muralidharan said.

Rajeev practices spelling about 15 hours a week with help from his mom, as well as a coach who lives out of state. He also gets tips from Norman spelling bee guru Cole Shafer-Ray.

Shafer-Ray, who has won the bee multiple times, congratulated Rajeev after his win.

“You killed it, man!” he said.

Rajeev said he’s looking forward to competing at the national level in Washington, D.C. He plans to study word language and roots in the meantime. Although he hopes to do well in Washington, he’s happy with his current success.

“I just want to praise my Lord Jesus Christ for getting me this far,” he said. “This is a dream come true.”