WICHITA — The word with which second-time state winner Sukesh Kamesh from Kingman Middle School won the 2019 Sunflower State Spelling Bee could very well have been something he experienced during the event on Saturday at Newman University in Wichita.
The word, horripilation, can happen when someone is excited or afraid, and Kamesh had his share of jitters that day, since he said he was too nervous to eat lunch.
Horripilation is another word for goosebumps.
For every word he was presented, Kamesh asked the word’s language of origin, for it to be used in a sentence, if there were other pronunciations and its definition. Then, he set about spelling the word on his hand with a finger. He made no mistakes.
Kamesh did a few things to prepare for the event.
“Daily, just study,” said Kamesh, who was all smiles following the all-day event. “Even when I give up, just keep going. Never get de-motivated.”
He’s happy he won.
“Great — just keep doing what I’m doing,” he said about the win, adding he hopes to do well at nationals.
Taking second place was Rececca Xue, a seventh-grader from Johnson County. She was glad for her placing.
“I think it feels great,” Xue said. “When I got second, I didn’t think I’d go to nationals.”
First- and second-place winners will represent Kansas at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
At Saturday’s bee there were 615 registered schools from all 105 counties in the state.
Iola’s Kinsey Jelinek placed 68th.
At the end of the spelling bee, Xue and Kamesh were neck and neck, both spelling words correctly, until Xue missed one, and then Kamesh needed to spell a final winning word. The entire spelling bee went about 20 rounds.
“This group represents the finest of the thousands of students competing in this year’s program. Regardless of where spellers place today, they are all accomplished spellers,” said Amber Jackson, of the Kansas Press Association, sponsor of the bee.
