The national spelling of bees escapes from difficult words, ends in an unprecedented way

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) – During the marathon day, early warning signs revealed that this spelled from the Scripps National Spelling Bee would not end like the others in the 94 years of the event.

Rishik Gandharsi felt it as he pbaded the microphone for the ninth round of the evening finale in the evening at prime time, while he was one of eight remaining spellers on the stage.

"Just out of curiosity," Rishik asked President Jacques Bailly, "do you know what time it is?"

It was 11:18 PM Forty-five minutes later, Rishik was a champion. Just like Erin Howard. It was the same for Saketh Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, Sukhantankar Sohum, Abhijay Kodali, Christopher Serrao and finally Rohan Raja. The eight co-champions closed the bee by correctly spelling 47 consecutive words.

All eight received the winner's full cargo of $ 50,000 in cash, as well as a new tailor-made trophy, as Scripps simply could not find words difficult enough to be challenged.

There was cause for concern after the bee had completed three consecutive years in a row, from 2014 to 2016, that the best spellers may be too good for the bee. Scripps proposed a written test of separation of spelling and vocabulary, a solution for which no one was delighted. After two years in which the test was no longer necessary, the bee managers decided that it was too demanding for the spelling and got rid of it.

The rules governing this year's bee require at most three co-champions. An emergency plan for even more winners was drawn on the fly Thursday afternoon, after bee officials evaluated the performance of the pitcher in the first final rounds. Five and a half hours were needed to reduce the number of young people from 50 to 16 years old.

"We are closely tied to the difficulty level of the program, so we are very much aware of the increased level of competition. That does not surprise us at all, "said Paige Kimble, executive director of the bee. "We did not go to the competition tonight without knowing that it was a possibility and without a plan."

Bailly, the longtime president and beloved public figure of the bee, announced the news to a stunned crowd in a ballroom at the convention center near Washington, after the eventual eight champions had experienced two perfect consecutive innings.

"Champions, we are now in unknown territory," said Bailly. "There are still many words on our list. But we'll soon be running out of words that may challenge you, the most phenomenal collection of super spellers in the history of this competition. "

There would be three rounds, said Bailly, and whoever would cross would be a champion. Nobody missed a word.

For the winners, fatigue was the only real concern. Shruthika staggered to the microphone to say her last words and greeted Bailly in a hoarse and hoarse voice.

"I am very happy that they stopped where they were," said Shruthika, 13, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

"I feel there is no better way to do it," said Saketh, also 13, from Clarksville, Maryland. "I do not know if I would win if they continued. I was super tired because it was like noon and I was exhausted. "

Kimble has long insisted that Scripps would never submit spelling to an endurance contest and she did not regret how it ended.

"Look at these kids. They worked so hard and accomplished a lot, "said Kimble. "I think it's the best night for the bee."

But there were murmurs of discontent among the old spellers and spelling experts in the crowd. The words, they said, were too easy. Naysa Modi, last year's finalist who had surprisingly missed the final this year because of her written test score, was in tears as the confetti fell. She said the winners deserved, but the last words were not hard enough for them or for her.

Among the words that have earned Spellers a share of the title: "auslaut", "palama", "cernuous" and "odylic".

"This would never happen in my bee," said Rahul Walia, founder of the South Asian Spelling Bee, where Sohum defeated Abhijay for the title last year. He said Scripps was scratching the surface of words that could confuse or deceive his elite competitors.

South Asian and North-South bees, national competitions reserved for South Asian ancestry spellers, are among the many reasons why American Indians dominated the bee. Scripps over the past two decades.

Erin was the first champion without South Asian heritage since Evan O'Dorney in 2007.

"I did not expect that to happen. I was convinced that the bell was going to ring on me at some point today, but for some reason that's not the case, "said Erin, a 14-year-old native from Huntsville, Alabama. "This is the culmination of the last six years of my life. So, frankly, I just can not believe I'm here right now. "

The majority of the spells had personal trainers and 13 out of 16 word lists and study papers compiled by the ex-spellings Shobha Dasari and his younger brother, Shourav. Shobha, who turns 18 at Stanford in the fall, said the proliferation of private coaches and online study guides had made spell-checking easier, but she paid tribute to the champions .

"The kids have to work again," Shobha said.

Three of the champions are from the Dallas area, perhaps the most competitive in the country: Sohum, Abhijay and Rohan. New Jersey had two champions, Christopher and Shruthika. Rishik, from San Jose, California, was the only self-proclaimed "octo-champion" on the west coast.

Simone Kaplan, the last child to misspell a word Thursday night, may have been the oddest spelling. Simone, a 13-year-old from Davie, Florida, who dazzled the crowd by shouting definitions and dark roots, finished ninth, but she also turned out to be the finalist.

Simone is in seventh grade, which means that next year will be her last year of eligibility. The champions are prevented from defending their titles, so she would not have to face the children who beat her. But she does not know if she will try again, because she was satisfied with her performance.

"I think it's a strange event," Simone said in an attempt to synthesize the night. "A tie-breaker could have been useful."