Despite the rivalry, the two boys gave each other encouraging hand slaps as they passed each other on the way to and from the microphone.
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Cooper qualified for the national bee on March 15 by winning the Los Angeles County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee for the second consecutive year.
Just before her son took to the podium before millions of viewers, Deborah Komatsu said the experience would be “both nerve-racking and the proudest moment of a mother’s life, all at the same time”.
For the first time, competitors included a first-grader – 6-year-old Akash Vukoti of San Angelo, Texas. “I thought they would win”.
The eagle-eyed folks who run the National Spelling Bee’s Twitter account corrected the author’s spelling in a one word reply: “lose”.
Her father, Marc Tuttle, said afterward that the family likes to quote Winnie the Pooh’s philosophy: “You never can tell with bees”. “I was sad because I didn’t want it to end”.
After Nihar misspelled “ayacahuite”, Jairam and Nihar went back to work. But he conquered. He easily spelled “myoclonus”, which means an irregular, involuntary muscle contraction.
“It is. It’s a soft Danish cheese”, pronouncer Dr. Jacques A. Bailly said, as spectators laughed and cheered. “Gesellschaft”, Nihar’s final word, is a noun meaning social relationships based on impersonal connections. He said he just didn’t know the words. It was his first Bee.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee crowned co-champions Thursday night. Those efforts were in vain.
Nihar and Jairam have become close friends over the past year, but Nihar said he didn’t consider misspelling on objective when he had chances to win. Once he learned he’d spelled the word correctly, he jumped and erupted into a smile.
An Indiana speller was the first of the final 10 to be eliminated.
According to Bee officials, 11 million people participated in the Bee at local and qualifying levels.
As the Scripps National Spelling Bee co-champions, Hathwar and Janga will begin a whirlwind victory tour early Friday, with numerous national networks and publications, entertainment programs and digital media platforms including “Good Morning America”, “Today Show”, “Wall Street Journal”, “Live with Kelly“, “CNN” and “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.
On Tuesday, a preliminary exam was administered to all Bee participants.
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Five finalists made a return trip to the bee, which took place at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center, just outside of Washington.
