One Texas teen won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and even made history in the process. KXAN reported that Harini Logan, from San Antonio, is recognized as one of the best spellers in the English language at just 14 years old.
Harini was eliminated then reinstated during the spelling bee's multiple-choice vocabulary round. She misspelled four words, along with her competition Vikram Raju, who also misspelled four words. Then, she finally came out on top during the bee's first-ever lightning-round tiebreaker on Thursday night.
Harini has been preparing for this win for a long time. She even practiced for the possibility of a lightning-speed round. Harini said, "When it got introduced last year, I was a bit terrified, to be honest. I go slow. That's my thing. I didn't know how I would fare in that setting."
Harini won more than $50,000 in cash and prizes, and she is the first-ever Scripps champion to be reinstated during the competition.
Harini's longtime coach Grace Walters said, "In the end, it’s all been worth it. Every second place. Every ding. Every tear. All of it. This is the ending Harini deserves."