Pa. girl wins National Spelling Bee

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WASHINGTON, June 3 (UPI) -- Sukanya Roy, an eighth-grader from Pennsylvania, won the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee Thursday in her third year of national competition.

She correctly spelled "cymotrichous," a word meaning wavy-haired and derived from Greek, to emerge the national champion. The battle among the 13 finalists was broadcast on ESPN.

After her victory, Sukanya appeared to be at a loss for words.

"It is kind of surreal," she said. "It's just amazing. It's hard to put into words."

Sukanya, who lives in South Abington, attends Abington Middle School in Newton Ransom, Pa. She represented the Times-Leader of Wilkes-Barre in the competition and made it to Washington for the national competition in 2009 and 2010.

There were 275 regional winners in Washington.

The National Spelling Bee was first held in 1925. "Spellbound," a 2002 film about the competition, was nominated for an Oscar in the best documentary category.