Two boys tied for first place in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night — the first time co-champions have been crowned in 52 years.
Sriram Hathwar, of 14, of Painted Post, NY, and Ansun Sujoe, 13, of Fort Worth, Texas, spelled so many words correctly in a row, there weren’t enough left on the list to continue the contest, organizers said.
In the final round, Sriram aced the brain-bender “stichomythia” — dialogue between two dueling actors. Ansun nailed “feuilleton,” which is part of a European newspaper.
“I think we both know that the competition was against the dictionary, not against each other … I am happy to share this trophy with him,” Sriram said on ESPN after the win.
Ansun was thrilled, too.
“I was anxious to get done … All of that hard work paid off,” he told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Other contestants didn’t do as well.
A tragically funny video clip shows contestant Jacob Williamson celebrating before he actually won — then realizing he didn’t.
Williamson received the word “kabaragoya” — a large lizard native to Southeast Asia — and proudly announced, “Kabaragoya! I know that!”
After he spelled it with a “c,” and a buzzer informed him he was wrong, he shouted “Whaaaat?!” in disbelief.
Other contestants who misspelled words said they planned to switch study habits for future competitions.
“Now I’ll prepare more for the finals, and try to go through more esoteric words,” said Tejas Muthusamy, 11.
The last time there were co-champions in the bee was in 1962, organizers said. Before that, there were ties in 1950 and 1957.