Pa. girl survives 5-speller standoff to win bee

By Joseph White

Associated Press

Published: Friday, June 3 2011 1:10 a.m. MDT

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Laura Newcombe, 12, of Toronto, Canada, left, and Sukanya Roy, 14, from Wilkes-Barre, Pa.., the last two remaining spellers in the National Spelling Bee, wait for the next round of the finals to start in Oxon Hill, Md., on Thursday, June 2, 2011. Roy won by correctly spelling "cymotrichous."

Jacquelyn Martin, Associated Press

Summary

It's what makes the spelling bee such gripping drama. Five competitors were left, and it appeared none of them would ever miss again.

OXON HILL, Md. — It's what makes the spelling bee such gripping drama. Five competitors were left, and it appeared none of them would ever miss again.

They correctly rolled off 21 words in a row. Hard ones, like "abhinaya" and "capoeira" and "cheongsam" and "opodeldoc." One of the spellers kept checking another one's watch. It was past bedtime, and long past the time slot that had been allotted by ESPN.

But it turned out that not all five had memorized the entire dictionary. Eventually, four heard the telltale bell of elimination, leaving 14-year-old eighth grader Sukanya Roy of South Abington Township, Pa., to take home the trophy and the more than $40,000 in cash and prizes Thursday at the 84th Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland.

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