National spelling bee ends in 8-way tie

May 31 (UPI) -- The dictionary was bested Thursday when eight spellers were named co-champions of the 2019 Scripps National Spelling Bee, the organization said.

The eight champions spelled their way through 20 rounds over Bee Week that began Monday, beating out 554 other contestants ranging in age from 7 to 15 throughout the United States and other territories for the coveted title of spelling bee champion.

The eight champions spelled the final 47 words correctly and went five perfect rounds.

At the 17th round, bee pronouncer Jacques Bailly told the final contestants that the competition was heading into "uncharted territory," ESPN reported.

"We do have plenty of words remaining on our list," he said. "But we will soon run out of words that will possibly challenge you, the most phenomenal collection of super spellers in the history of this competition," Bailly said.

And three rounds later with not a word mispelled, the competition was called, and eight were crowned spelling bee champions.

Rishik Gandhasri, 13, of California was the first winner when the seventh-grader spelled "auslaut" correctly.

Erin Howard, 14, of Alabama, was second when she correctly spelled "erysipelas."

Maryland's Saketh Sundar, 13, followed with "bougainvillea."

Shruthika Padhy, 13, of New Jersey became the spelling bee co-champion with spelling "aiguillette" right.

Sohum Sukatankar, 13, of Texas, spelled "pendeloque" to become champion.

Abhijay Kodali, 12, of Texas, finished third last year but was named champion in 2019 after spelling "palama" correctly.

Christopher Serrao, 13, of New Jersey, became champion with spelling "cernuous" correctly.

And Rohana Raja, 13, of Texas was the final winner with correctly spelling "odylic."

Each winner will receive a cash prize of $50,000, the organization said.

"After 20 rounds of intensive, record-breaking competition, they're all going home as winners," Scripps National Spelling Bee said on Twitter.

Bee Week began Monday with contestants completing a preliminary multiple-choice test with Round Two falling on Tuesday that saw the number of contestants fall to 518 before the final 50 spellers emerged from the pack.

The 50 final spellers were determined by earning at least 30 points of a maximum 36 by taking a written test and correctly spelling words on stages.

Those 50 were whittled down to 16 contestants, who, on Thursday, battled it out over several hours to end at the eight co-champions.