Florida’s Bruhat Soma, 12, wins National Spelling Bee in dramatic tiebreaker
Bruhat Soma was unbeatable before arriving at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and neither the dictionary, nor his competitors, nor a lightning tiebreaker challenged him on his way to victory.
Bruhat spelled 29 words correctly in the tiebreak and defeated Faizan Zaki by nine to win the title on Thursday evening. He will receive a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
The 12-year-old seventh grader from Tampa, Florida, had won three consecutive bees before arriving at a convention center outside Washington for the most prestigious spelling contest in the English language.
The bee started with eight finalists, the fewest since 2010, and it was clear from the start that Scripps was trying to fill the two-hour broadcast on Ion, a network owned by the Cincinnati-based media company. There were frequent long commercial breaks during which players could walk around the side of the stage and chat with their coaches, family members and supporters.
And then the Bee officials announced that it was time for the tiebreaker, known as a “spell-off,” before Bruhat and Faizan even got a chance to spell against each other in a conventional round.
Bruhat went first, and after saying thirty words it seemed he was impossible to beat. Faizan’s pace was more uneven in the beginning. He tried 25 words but broke four.
Shortly after Bruat was showered with confetti and presented the trophy, Faizan stood at the side of the stage in tears and accepted hugs from other spellers. A few minutes earlier, he had hugged his good friend, Shrey Parikh, after Shrey was eliminated on stage.
Entering the competition, Bruhat was undefeated in his last three spelling bees.
He won the Words of Wisdom bee, organized by Scott Remer, a former speller, coach and study guide author and Guardian contributor. He won the SpellPundit bee hosted by that study guide company. And he won the first-ever online bee presented by Dev Shah, last year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee champion.
“He’s competitive,” Bruhat’s coach, 16-year-old former player Sam Evans, said before the final. “I mean, he likes to win.”
With his win Thursday, Bruhat takes home more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.
Despite some surprise eliminations in the semi-finals, the eight finalists were the usual impressive group – albeit on the young side. Only three were eighth-graders in their final year of eligibility: 13-year-old Kirsten Tiffany Santos of Richmond, Texas; 14-year-old Rishabh Saha from Merced, California; and 13-year-old Aditi Muthukumar of Westminster, Colorado.
The rest were in sixth or seventh grade: 12-year-old Shrey Parikh of Rancho Cucamonga, California; 12-year-old Faizan Zaki from Allen, Texas; 12-year-old YY Liang from Hartsdale, New York; and 13-year-old Ananya Prassana of Apex, North Carolina.
Shrey and Faizan are good friends with Bruhat, and all three are taught by Evans.
“It doesn’t really surprise me that one of my students has gotten this far. I know they are all prepared. They have everything it takes to win, all of them,” Evans said.
Bruhat in particular has impressed his coach and other spectators with his clear command of the dictionary.
“We process so many words per class, more than I’ve seen with any other speller. His work ethic is incredible,” said Evans. “Once he misses a word, he will rarely miss it again. He sees it and he remembers it.”
Faizan became a crowd favorite during the semi-final for his fist-pumping excitement when he spelled correctly, and for his empathy: he rushed over and gave a big hug to his good friend Aryan Khedkar when Aryan was eliminated.
“It was just so sad to see him lose his senior year,” Faizan said. “So I just wanted to support him and help him through this difficult time.”
Aditi won the Colorado State spelling bee after a lengthy duel with her younger sister, Aadhya, who is in the fifth grade. She finished 74th in the Scripps bee last year, but started studying harder and working with Remer in an effort to make a big leap.
“When we started working together, she had some gaps and holes. But what impressed me was the speed at which she improved,” Remer said. “She absorbed the material from the lessons quite quickly and flawlessly.”