NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – For the third year in a row, the Scripps National Spelling Bee has ended with co-champions.
Nihar Janga, 11, of Austin, Texas, and Jairam Hathwar, 13, of Painted Post, N.Y., ended 39 rounds of competition to share the trophy, according to USA TODAY.
“It was just insane,” Jairam said of the intense competition. His brother, Sriram, was the 2014 co-champion.
“I’m just speechless,” Nihar said. “I’m only in the fifth grade.”
The spellers will take home $40,000 in cash, trophy and other prizes.
Thursday's championship rounds began at 8 p.m. Thursday with 10 contestants competing before a live television audience. That was down from the 284 contestants who arrived at the bee on Tuesday.
Earlier Thursday, the spelling rounds took a toll, as contestants fell one by one.
Andrew France of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, exited the competition with grace after hearing the ding of the dreaded bell signal his error on a word in Round 5.
“Thank you – it has been an honor,” he said.
The 14-year-old missed “pareiasaur,” which refers to an extinct group of reptiles. He was off by just one letter.
Afua Ansah of Ghana got a standing ovation from the other spellers and the audience as she left the stage after missing “Liechtenstein.”
The ovation was one of several earned by departing contestants throughout the day.
Vasundara Govindarajan of Miami was tripped by “reseau,” which refers to a group of meteorological stations. She substituted an “a” for the first “e.”
Alex Iyer of San Antonio, Texas, was graceful in defeat after misspelling “hypopus,” which refers to the migratory larva of some mites. The 13-year-old said he was glad to get such an interesting word, and just before departing the stage, declared, “I could not have done it without my dad.”
