The competition that started Tuesday with 281 spellers from around the world was whittled down to 12 contestants – four girls and eight boys — between 11 and 15 years old who made it to the final.
During the roughly 2 1/2-hour showdown, there was much hand-wringing and fidgeting, breath-holding and brow-furrowing among the mélange of braces, glasses, slouches, and high fives that have become a hallmark of the bee.
By the end of the fourth round of spelling Thursday night, half the contestants were gone. And at the start of the fifth, the last two girls were knocked out, one-two. Mary Horton, 13, missed “aetites” – a nodule of clay ironstone – and 14-year-old Alia Abiad of Illinois tripped up on “irbis” – a snow leopard.
Then it was down to the boys. There were three left at the end of the sixth round, Sriram, Ansun, and 13-year-old Missourian Gokul Venkatachalam. Gokul went on to spell “bamboche” – a Haitian social gathering – and “abaisse” – a thin undercrust of pastry – before missing “Kierkegaardian” – pertaining to philosopher Kierkegaard.