Texas takes it: Dallas-area youth are tops at spelling bee

OXON HILL, Md. -- The end of the biggest Scripps National Spelling Bee in history came abruptly, and it wasn't the conclusion many expected. Naysa Modi, a poised and charismatic four-time participant whose long spelling career seemed to be building toward triumph, sat next to a newcomer whom she had already beaten this year -- at the county level.

But 12-year-old Naysa blinked immediately, mixing up the single and double "s" in the German-derived word "Bewusstseinslage" -- a state of consciousness or a feeling devoid of sensory components -- and 14-year-old Karthik Nemmani seized an opportunity he wouldn't have had before this year.

Karthik's victory Thursday night put the spotlight back onto the story of this bee week -- the new wild-card program Scripps launched to give a chance to spellers like him, who have to compete against some of the nation's best spellers at the local level. The field was expanded to 515 spellers to accommodate the wild cards -- there had never been more than 300 competitors previously -- and four of the 16 prime-time finalists got in through the new program, known as "RSVBee."

When only three spellers remained, all were from the Dallas area. Karthik is from McKinney, Texas -- his family moved there specifically so he could go to a school taking part in the Scripps program. Naysa is from Frisco, less than 15 miles to the west. And third-place finisher Abhijay Kodali lives in Flower Mound, another 40 miles west.

Naysa knocked off Abhijay in the Dallas regional bee after topping Karthik in their county bee. The region is one of a few sponsoring two spellers for a trip to nationals. The wild cards had to pay their own way -- a $750 entry fee, plus the costs of travel to Washington and lodging.