Randall County Spelling Bee has a repeat champion

Jensen Betzen, a seventh-grader from Randall Junior High School, won his second consecutive Randall County Spelling Bee, held Friday at Canyon Intermediate School in Canyon. Last year, Betzen won the county spelling bee and went on to finish third in the regional spelling bee.

At 12 years old, Betzen is no stranger to winning spelling bees, since previously he was the Randall County Junior Spelling Bee champion who had the unfortunate bad luck of having to face his older brother Dax, who went on to beat him out to win the overall county spelling bee.

Spelling proficiency seems to run in his family, since his uncle Casey Weiss advanced to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., three times after winning the regional spelling bee.

The winning word for Betzen on this day was "pertinacity", after his opponent Mihir Chandra, a seventh-grader from Ascension Academy, just missed the word "gasthaus" by adding an additional "s" at the end of the eighth round of the competition. A total of 48 contestants competed in the spelling bee; by round six, the competition was whittled down to its final two students. In the seventh round, Betzen and Chandra correctly spelled two very uncommon words: Betzen was able to spell "dodecahedron" and Chandra correctly spelled "enoki".

Chandra, who was in his first spelling bee, said that he did not feel like he would make it far into the spelling competition and was pleased with his performance.

“To be honest, I did not do a lot of practice; I had no idea I would make it this far in the bee,” Chandra said.

He said that the key to his success today was being able to memorize spelling patterns and to visualize every letter of each word that he spelled. Chandra said that he plans to study more and do better next year. He said his mom was a great encouragement to him for the competition.

His mom, Palika Datta, said that seeing her son in the competition had her on the edge of her seat as she saw him advance to the final two.

“I was so surprised how well he did today; I did not expect him to do so well here,” Datta said. “It feels so good. I cannot even believe how far he got today. His hard work and the wishes from his grandparents really worked out well for him today.”

Betzen said that he and his mom are constantly practicing in the car for the spelling bee since he is involved in so many other activities, including baseball, tennis and theater. He said that theater had been a real help in dealing with any possible stage fright for these types of competitions.

“I studied a lot, and we are spelling all the time in the car, going over all the words,” Betzen said. “I will practice a lot of the level three words for the regional competition.”

Cristin Betzen said that she is really proud of all the work that her son puts into anything he does.

“I am so proud of him. He does so much and is so involved in so many things,” Cristin Betzen said. “He does so many things, and making time to do this is valuable to lifelong success.”

Asked if there were a point where she felt he would not be able to win this year’s competition, she said absolutely not.

“He prepared for this, and I never questioned whether he was capable of winning the competition,” she continued. “I like his chances to win the regionals. He is going to have to study and get ready, especially with less time to prepare for the competition. There will be a lot of quality spellers here. A spelling bee is the only competition where the consolation prize is that you do not have to study anymore."

She said that with all of his activities, she does not try to overdo the spelling and that’s why they do all the studying in the car.

“The spelling bee expands their vocabulary so much; it really gives them skills that they can use in almost anything,” Cristin Betzen said.

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At last year’s regional event, Jensen had to come straight from a baseball game — as he competed while still in his baseball uniform and cleats — on his way to his third-place finish.

"I am super proud of him. He tries to put a lot of effort in everything he does,” his dad Todd Betzen said. “I am not surprised that he came out the winner today.”

The Regional Spelling Bee will be held on Feb. 11, and the winner of that event will go on to the national event in Washington, D.C.

This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Randall County Spelling Bee has a repeat champion