WASHINGTON — Evan M. O'Dorney, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Danville, Calif., won the 80th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday night, capping a day of furrowed brows, shocked expressions and tears poised to spill from the faces of youngsters not yet old enough to drive.
Evan, making his third consecutive appearance at the national bee, said he knew the final word -- "serrefine," which means "a small forceps for clamping a blood vessel" -- as soon as he heard it.
Although he confessed that he preferred the certainty of mathematics and the creativity of music to the memorization required to become a spelling champion, Evan, who is taught by his mother, Jennifer O'Dorney, through San Ramon's Venture School home study program, allowed that he now likes spelling "maybe a little bit."
As the champion, Evan will receive $30,000 in cash, a $5,000 college scholarship, a $2,500 savings bond, a reference library and a trophy, plus $5,000 in cash and 50 reference works for a school or public library of his choice.
When the day began, 59 contestants remained from the original 286 who started the competition Wednesday.
By lunchtime, as the fifth round ended, the field had been narrowed to 33.
By 2 p.m., the finalists numbered 15 -- six girls and nine boys; two from California and three from Canada; five home-schooled. Most were 13 or 14, but there were three 12-year-olds and one 11-year-old, Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan., who would have been the youngest champion ever if she'd won. (She was eliminated in the seventh round, misspelling "cilice" as "cilis.")
One of the biggest shocks during the day was the elimination of Samir Patel of Colleyville, Texas, a fifth-year competitor who was a popular favorite to win. "I'm really angry that I got such an easy one wrong," he said on ESPN, which broadcast the afternoon contest live. After misspelling the word "clevis" as "clevice," he said, "I messed up."
The crowd, including the remaining spellers on stage, saluted him with a standing ovation. His family appealed his elimination, questioning the way the judges had pronounced the word, but the appeal was denied.
Claire Zhang of Jupiter, Fla., had a heart-stopping experience as judges misheard her and, at first, gave her spelling of "burelage" the dreaded "ding." Like anxious fans at an NFL playoff game, the 1,100-member audience in the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel listened in silence as the tape was replayed. The judges ruled that she had spelled the word correctly and reinstated her.
