It's A Tie For The Scripps National Spelling Bee

It has been 52 years since there has been a tie, but two spellers were declared co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday.

 

Sriram Hathwar of Painted Post, New York, and Ansun Sujoe of Fort Worth, Texas, shared the title after a riveting final-round duel in which they nearly exhausted the 25 designated championship words. After they spelled a dozen words correctly in a row, they both were named champions.

 

 

Earlier, 14-year-old Sriram opened the door to an upset by 13-year-old Ansun after he misspelled "corpsbruder," a close comrade. But Ansun was unable to take the title because he got "antegropelos," which means waterproof leggings, wrong.Sriram entered the final round as the favorite after finishing in third place last year. Ansun just missed the semifinals last year.

 

They become the fourth co-champions in the bee's 89-year history and the first since 1962.