‘Herniorrhaphy’ the undoing for Las Vegan in National Spelling Bee

The 13-year-old Las Vegan was the first speller eliminated in the final round of the competition, held in Washington, D.C.

The crown went to cool and collected Kavya Shivashankar, who wrote out every word on her palm. She rattled off the letters to "Laodicean" to become the nation’s spelling champion.

The budding neurosurgeon from Olathe, Kan., outlasted 10 other finalists, taking home more than $40,000 in cash and prizes and the huge champion’s trophy.

After spelling the winning word, which means lukewarm or indifferent in religion or politics, Kavya got hugs from her father, mother and little sister.

But Tussah got to taste sweet success during the week of competition too.

She breezed through elimination rounds and signed a lot of autographs. She bested 282 other spellers to make the top 11, who appeared on a prime-time ABC broadcast.

But on the national stage, Tussah met her match.

"Herniorrhaphy."

It’s a surgical procedure used in correcting a hernia.

Tussah noticeably paused before the second "r" in the third syllable, as if thinking where to go next, and then left it out. She winced afterward and hugged her mother when she moved away from the microphone.

Tussah could not be reached for comment afterward.

Earlier rounds were aired live on ESPN, and Tussah shared her jitters on her Twitter page.

"My legs were shaking like leaves when they announced the select 41 spellers advancing," she tweeted.

Moments after the group was narrowed to the top 11, Tussah wrote, "I had to spell ‘cerecloth,’ ‘bardiglio’ and ‘talipot’ to qualify. I was praying so hard for me to get words that I know — and I did."

In March, the home-schooled eighth-grader won the Nevada State Spelling Bee on the word "monogamous," which advanced her to Washington, D.C.

A Nevadan has never won the national spelling bee, which pits the best middle-school-age spellers against each other.

Kavya was making her fourth appearance at the bee, having finished 10th, eighth and fourth over the past three years.

She enjoys playing the violin, bicycling, swimming and learning Indian classical dance, and her role model is Nupur Lala, the 1999 champion featured in the documentary "Spellbound."

Second place went to 12-year-old Tim Ruiter of Centreville, Va., the only non-teenager in the finals. He misspelled "maecenas," which means a cultural benefactor.

Aishwarya Pastapur, 13, from Springfield, Ill., who loved to pump her arm and exclaim "yes!" after getting a word correct, finished third after flubbing "menhir," a type of monolith.

The bee attracted a record 293 participants.

This year’s finalists were all 13 years old, except for 12-year-old Tim. Otherwise, they were a diverse group, with hometowns from New York to California. One was born in Malaysia. Another can speak Hindi and wore five good-luck charms. Tim is a science-fiction buff who apparently does a great impersonation of Gollum from "Lord of the Rings."

Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, kicked off the championship rounds by telling of a bout with nerves that caused her to drop out of a sixth-grade spelling contest.

"I know that confidence is the most important thing you can give a child," she told the audience.

After the first round, the next round claimed three spellers.

Kennyi Aouad of Terre Haute, Ind., added a novel flair to the bee, demonstrating the kind of confident showmanship one would expect from a professional athlete. The nearsighted boy would think aloud, scratch his chin and sometimes put on glasses so he could see the pronouncer’s lips. After spelling a word correctly, he would strut to his seat, point to supporters and mug for the camera.

Kennyi was finally eliminated on the "palatschinken," an unusual type of pancake.

He shrugged and said "tried my best" after he heard the bell, then shook his head bemusedly when told the correct spelling.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact reporter Maggie Lillis at mlillis@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.