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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 1 June 2019

Elite 8: National Spelling Bee too easy for octet of champs

By BEN NUCKOLS of competition. This does “I’m very glad they Among the words that son it did not,” said Erin, a
Associated Press not actually surprise us at stopped where they did,” earned spellers a share of 14-year-old from Huntsville,
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) — all,” said Paige Kimble, said Shruthika, a 13-year- the title: “auslaut,” ‘’pal- Alabama. “This is the culmi-
There were warning signs the bee’s executive direc- old from Cherry Hill, New ama,” ‘’cernuous” and nation of the past six years
throughout a marathon of my life. So frankly, I just
day of spelling that this can’t believe that I’m here
Scripps National Spelling right now.”
Bee would not conclude The majority of the spell-
like any other in the event’s ers had personal coaches,
94-year history. and 13 of the 16 used word
Rishik Gandharsi sensed it lists and study materials
as he stepped to the mi- compiled by ex-spellers
crophone for the ninth Shobha Dasari and her
round of Thursday night’s younger brother, Shourav.
prime-time finals, when he Shobha, who’s 18 and will
was one of eight spellers re- go to Stanford in the fall,
maining onstage. said the proliferation of pri-
“Just out of curiosity,” Rishik vate coaches and online
asked pronouncer Jacques study guides has simplified
Bailly, “do you happen to speller preparation, but
know what time it is?” she still gave credit to the
It was 11:18 p.m. Forty-five champions.
minutes later, Rishik was “The kids still have to put in
a champion. So was Erin the work,” Shobha said.
Howard. So were Saketh Three of the champions
Sundar, Shruthika Padhy, are from the Dallas area,
Sohum Sukhantankar, Ab- perhaps the most competi-
hijay Kodali, Christopher tive region in the country:
Serrao and, finally, Rohan Sohum, Abhijay and Ro-
Raja. The eight co-cham- Co-champions of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee, Shruthika Padhy, 13, of Cherry Hill, N.J., han. New Jersey had two
pions closed out the bee Erin Howard, 14, of Huntsville, Ala., Rishik Gandhasri, 13, of San Jose, Calif., Christopher Serrao, 13, champs, in Christopher
by spelling 47 consecutive of Whitehouse Station, N.J., Saketh Sundar, 13, of Clarksville, Md., Sohum Sukhatankar, 13, of Dal- and Shruthika. Rishik, from
words correctly. las, Texas, Rohan Raja, 13, of Irving, Texas, and Abhijay Kodali, 12, of Flower Mound, Texas, hold San Jose, California, was
All eight received the full the trophy in Oxon Hill, Md., Friday, May 31, 2019. Associated Press the only one of the self-pro-
winner’s freight of $50,000 claimed “octo-champs”
in cash and a new, custom- tor. “We didn’t go into the Jersey. “odylic.” from the West Coast.
designed trophy, because competition tonight not “I feel like there was no “This would never happen Perhaps the speller who
Scripps simply could not knowing that this was a better way to do it,” said at my bee,” said Rahul Wa- had the oddest experience
come up with words diffi- possibility and not having a Saketh, who’s also 13 and lia, founder of the South was Simone Kaplan, the
cult enough to challenge plan.” lives in Clarksville, Mary- Asian Spelling Bee, where last kid to misspell a word
them. Bailly, the longtime pro- land. “I don’t know if I Sohum defeated Abhijay Thursday night. Simone, a
There was plenty of concern nouncer and the be- would’ve won if they kept for the title last year. He said 13-year-old from Davie,
after the bee ended in ties loved public face of the going. I was super tired be- Scripps was just scratching Florida, who dazzled the
three years in a row, from bee, broke the news to a cause it was like 12:00, and the surface of words that crowd by shouting out defi-
2014-2016, that the very stunned crowd in a con- I was exhausted.” could confuse or trip up nitions and obscure roots,
best spellers might be too vention center ballroom Kimble has long insisted elite competitors. finished ninth, but she also
good for the bee. Scripps outside Washington after that Scripps would never The South Asian bee and turned out to be the run-
came up with a written tie- the eight eventual champs subject spellers to an en- the North South Foundation ner-up.
breaker test of both spelling had gone through two con- durance contest, and she bee, national competitions Simone is in seventh grade,
and vocabulary, a solution secutive perfect rounds. had no regrets about the available to spellers only of which means next year
no one was thrilled about. “Champion spellers, we are way it ended. South Asian descent, are is her final year of eligibil-
After two years in which the now in uncharted territory,” “Look at these kids. They among the many reasons ity. Champions are barred
test wasn’t needed, bee Bailly said. “We do have worked so hard and they Indian-Americans have from defending their titles,
officials decided it was too plenty of words remaining achieved so much,” Kim- come to dominate the so she wouldn’t have to
burdensome on the spellers on our list. But we will soon ble said. “I think it’s the best Scripps bee over the past face any of the kids who
and got rid of it. run out of words that will night ever for the bee.” two decades. beat her. But she’s not sure
The rules going into this possibly challenge you, the But there were murmurs Erin was the first champion if she’ll try again, because
year’s bee called for, at most phenomenal collec- of discontent among the without South Asian heri- she was satisfied with her
most, three co-champions. tion of super spellers in the ex-spellers and spelling tage since Evan O’Dorney performance.
A contingency plan for history of this competition.” experts in the crowd. The in 2007. “I do feel that this is a
even more winners was There would be three words, they said, were just “I never expected for this to strange occurrence,” Sim-
developed on the fly Thurs- rounds, Bailly said, and any- too easy. happen. I was convinced one said in an attempt to
day afternoon, after bee one who got through them Naysa Modi, last year’s that the bell was going to sum up the night. “A tie-
officials evaluated spellers’ would be a champion. No runner-up who surprisingly ring on me at some point breaker test could have po-
performance in the early fi- one came close to missing missed out on the finals this today, but for some rea- tentially come in handy.”q
nal rounds. It took 5½ hours a word. year because of her writ-
to narrow the field from 50 For the winners, fatigue ten test score, was in tears
kids to 16. was the only real concern. as the confetti fell. She said
“We are closely connected Shruthika staggered to the the winners were deserving,
to the difficulty level at the microphone for her last few but the final words weren’t
program, so we are quite words and greeted Bailly tough enough for them, or
aware of the rising level with a wan, hoarse voice. her.