Seventh grader Kush Sharma has advanced to the National Spelling Bee competition after outlasting his opponent through 95 rounds of spelling words in Kansas City, reports CNN (photo by Stacey Huggins).
He spent 75 of those rounds going one on one with fifth grader Sophia Hoffman, who finally was eliminated after misspelling the word stifling.
The pair went through so many words that the competition had to be suspended last week because the judges had already gone through all the words.
The two have become national celebrities appearing on both CNN and ABC.
“We got to know the kids; they are both great kids,” Mary Olive Thompson, outreach coordinator for Kansas City Public Library, said. “This is not the last we are going to see of Sophia.”
