After nearly four hours, 24 rounds of fierce competition and a close call in the 22nd round, a 13-year-old Benton County seventh grader took top honors at the state spelling bee on Saturday after correctly spelling the word strophic (derived from the Greek word "strophe" meaning to extend a piece of music by repetition of a single formal section).
Aditi Shasidhara, a student at Haas Hall of Bentonville, first had to wade through brain twisters such as mundify (meaning to wash thoroughly) and chimera (an imaginary monster compounded of incongruous parts) before taking top honors at her first statewide spelling bee, sponsored this year by the Electric Cooperatives of Arkansas.
The win earned Aditi a spot in the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee to be held in June in Washington, D.C., where she will square off against 200 regional champions from around the country.
Of the 54 competitors ages 9 to 14 who began the morning, 41 were eliminated in the first five rounds and by the 12th round only three remained. Those three, Aditi; Eleanor Huff, a 12-year-old seventh grader from Ahlf Junior High School in White County; and Matt Broadbent, an 11-year-old seventh grader from Wynne Junior High School in Cross County, battled it out for six rounds until Matt was eliminated after misspelling gattine (a French word meaning wasteland), leaving Aditi and Eleanor to battle it out for first place.
In round 22, Eleanor misspelled bassarisk (a ringtailed member of the raccoon family native to North America), which propelled Aditi to the first of two championship rounds, where she misspelled obiter (from the Latin ob itur, meaning "by the way").
After Aditi's reprieve in round 22, Eleanor stumbled on the word oblocutor (a Latin legal term meaning "to speak against") in round 24, sending Aditi to the championship round where she correctly spelled strophic to take the win.
Aditi said she was happy with her win but was not surprised by her near miss in round 22.
"I was kind of like expecting it because I really wasn't sure about the first championship word that I tried," she said. "I was kind of mad at myself though because I realized I had a better spelling in my head but I put the wrong one in."
In addition to a spot at the National Spelling Bee, Aditi also received a first-place plaque, a one-year subscription to Britannica Online Premium and Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online, a 2022 U.S. Mint proof set and a $575 cash prize.
Aditi said she has competed in three county spelling bees. This year, she earned her spot in the state competition by correctly spelling the word "espousal."
Eleanor, the second-place finisher and first-time state competitor, said her takeaway is to study harder.
"I need to study more from the words and study the languages of origin better," she said. "And I need to be prepared for the very, very, very difficult words."
Eleanor said she has competed in three county spelling bees, spelling the word "complacency" correctly to qualify for this year's state spelling bee. She said her feelings were mixed after round 22 when Aditi missed the championship word, placing her back into contention.
"I was extremely happy and also kind of terrified," she said.
For her second-place finish, Eleanor received a runner-up plaque and a $300 cash prize.
After Matt Broadbent's third-place finish, Akin Johnson, 14, an eighth grader from Farmington Jr. High School in Washington County, placed fourth, and Ahlam Ali Nur, 11, a fifth grader from Oak Grove Middle School in Greene County tied with Lucy Claire Coon, 14, an eighth grader from Episcopal Collegiate School in Pulaski County, for fifth place. Each of the four will receive a $100 cash prize.
Another competitor, 10-year-old Drew Mabry, a fifth grader at Acorn Elementary School in Polk County, was eliminated early in competition when he misspelled the word "indolent," but just his presence there, according to his father, Leo Mabry, was nothing short of miraculous.
Leo Mabry, a special education teacher, said Drew was diagnosed with autism at an early age and doctors said he would never be able to interact in public in any capacity.
"The doctors said I wouldn't be able to talk or throw a ball or even stand up on my feet properly," Drew said as he relaxed with his father in a lounge next to the auditorium. "I'm pretty sure those doctors didn't even know what they were talking about because look at me now."
To get to the state competition, Drew correctly spelled the word "throes" to take first place in his county spelling bee.
"And no matter what," he said, flashing a sly grin, "I'm still the best speller in Polk County."
CORRECTION: Matt Broadbent was eliminated from the Spelling Bee when he misspelled the word “gattine,” placing third in the competition. The word was misspelled in a previous version of this story. Eleanor Huff misspelled the word “bassarisk” in Round 22 and Aditi Shasidhara misspelled the word “obiter” in the first championship round. The two students’ names were reversed in a previous version of this story.