14-year-old Pa. girl wins National Spelling Bee
By JOSEPH WHITE, Associated Press
OXON HILL, Md. (AP) - It went on and on and on. Five spellers who seemingly had memorized the entire dictionary simply could not be stumped with any word tossed their way. It was getting late, way past bedtime and well beyond the time slot allotted by ESPN.
Finally, after 21 consecutive spellings without a miss, one of them finally flubbed a word. Eventually, the others were gone -- having heard the telltale bell of elimination -- except for 14-year-old eighth grader Sukanya Roy of South Abington Township, Pa., who took home the trophy and the more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
Sukanya's winning word was cymotrichous, which relates to wavy hair. She likes hiking, rock climbing and ice skating and wants to pursue a career in international relations. She is the fourth consecutive Indian-American to win the bee and the ninth in the last 13 years, a run that began when Nupur Lala captured the crown in 1999 and was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."
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A three-time competitor at the bee, Sukanya tied for 12th in 2009 and 20th in 2010.
"I went through the dictionary once or twice," she said, "and I guess some of the words really stuck."
Laura Newcombe, 12, of Toronto finished second. She was trying to be the first Canadian to win the bee, but she went out on the word "sorites."
Earlier in the day, the semifinals needed 95 minutes of overtime to whittle the competitors from 41 to 13. Those remaining were to return in a few hours for the prime time finals, with the winner receiving more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
"There were, like, one or two words I'm glad I didn't get, but the ones that I got were fairly easy," said 14-year-old Joanna Ye of Carlisle Pa., who was able to say that with a straight face about her words "brachygraphy," "pinetum," "rocaille" and "hypotrichosis."
"The hard part's yet to come," she added.
Joanna and Laura Newcombe of Toronto were the top returning finishers from last year. Laura and another finalist, Veronica Penny of Rockland, Ontario, were each hoping to become the first Canadian to win the bee.
The youngest finalist was 10-year-old Dhivya Murugan of Denver, who was born in India and was one of several Indian-Americans to advance. An Indian-American had won the bee three straight years and eight of the previous 12, a run that began when Nupur Lala captured the crown in 1999 and was later featured in the documentary "Spellbound."
"It does make me feel a little more confident, seeing as how most of the champions since Nupur Lala have been Indian," said Prakash Mishra, a 13-year-old eighth grader from Waxhaw, N.C. "I'm like, 'OK, I'll continue the chain.' "
It's become a trend for Indian-Americans winners to want to grow up to be neurosurgeons, but Prakash would prefer a career in particle physics.
"You've got to have something different, don't you?" he said.
Prakash speaks Hindi, French, German, Spanish and English and has a bag full of good luck charms, including a pen and a little bee that lights up. His sister is wearing her lucky necklace and he's wearing his lucky shirt. Maybe all that stuff worked -- he confidently knew all of his semifinal words, not having to guess at a single one.
That wasn't the case for some of the other spellers. Fourteen-year-old Dakota Jones of Las Vegas, a Boy Scout who is only one step away from making Eagle, needed every bit of his etymology acumen to survive the semis.
"Two of them I never really heard before," Dakota said, "and I just sounded them out mostly and guessed them."
The words that nearly stumped him? "Espadon," a sword, and "solenne," a music-related word.
The bee is always a surefire bet for suspense and overall entertainment, which is why the semifinals and finals have become staples for television. Fourteen-year-old Surjo Bandyopadhyay of Lusby, Md., was especially riveting to watch. Presented with the medical term "lysozyme," he blurted out: "May I please have all the information on this word?"
Surjo then shifted his eyes, wrinkled his brow and nodded his head as he listened to the definition, origin and a sentence -- then spelled the word correctly. In the next round, he puffed his cheeks, thrust his arms forward and spelled "phyllomancy" so fast that the judges paused for what seemed like forever before nodding their approval, creating such a tension that he had to do a double-take before returning to his seat.
But Surjo went down later in the semifinals, smiling and saying "failed" into the microphone after hearing the telltale elimination bell for his attempt on the musical-related term "nachschlag." He was then escorted to the bee's comfort sofa, where eliminated spellers were welcomed with cookies, water and soothing words from bee staff and family.
One of the interesting new twists at this year's bee: Some semifinalists got to see ESPN's feature profiles of themselves on a big screen while they were airing on television. It might have seemed like a distraction, but it actually served to ease the tension. Grace Remmer of St. Augustine, Fla., giggled as she watched herself enjoying Disneyworld -- then calmed down and approached the microphone, where she correctly spelled "anaphylaxis."
The bee continued to exhibit a sense of humor in the sentences used by pronouncer Jacques Bailly. He used a "set of prison bars for the name Bernie Madoff" in his example for "brachygraphy" and later made a reference to the "The Jeffersons," a sitcom that went off the air some 10 years before the oldest of the spellers was born.
The week began with 275 spellers. A written test Tuesday and two oral rounds Wednesday reduced the field for the semifinals.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
