Owen Kovalik — the winner of the 2015 Akron Beacon Journal Regional Spelling Bee — opened this year’s vocabulary smack-down Saturday with a bit of insider humor.
The contest begins with each speller introducing himself or herself at a mic and spelling a simple word.
Owen’s word was “house,” but the seventh-grade student from Medina Christian Academy treated the everyday noun as if it were ancient Sanskrit, extinct for centuries.
“May I have the definition?” Owen asked Tom Stephan, a retired Stow-Munroe Falls teacher who has been the pronouncer at the newspaper’s bee for about 25 years.
It was the kind of question spellers often use to delay — giving them time to think through the letters before they say them aloud — or with the hope the answer will yield a helpful spelling clue.
Stephan caught the joke right away and didn’t bother with a formal dictionary definition of “house.”
“Yah,” he smiled across the stage to the returning champion, “it’s the thing you live in.”
Contestants Saturday battled for more than three hours in 30 rounds of words.
Round 1, the first non-practice round, started with “souvenir.”
“Ding,” a judge hit the bell, alerting a sixth-grader from Barberton that she had misspelled the word and was out.
“Dearth” was the second word. Ding. A seventh-grader from Hudson was out, too.
By the time Round 16 rolled around, only five of the 29 competing spellers remained: four eighth-graders and Owen, who is a year behind them.
Clara Lee of Wooster High School spelled “jeremiad,” a word describing a list of woes.
Rheanna Velasquez, also from Wooster, spelled “furlough,” a word for leave of absence.
Ryan Holdman, from Ohio Virtual Academy, spelled “tanha,” a Buddhist term that translates to “thirst.”
Murari Bhimavarapu of Buckeye Jr. High School spelled “hollandaise,” a name for a creamy sauce.
And Owen, batting clean-up in the spelling order, didn’t hesitate when it was his turn to spell “spinet,” the name of a small piano.
And the battle roared on among these five students for 11 more rounds.
“Balalaika,” a Russian guitar-type instrument with a triangular body.
“Bobbejaan,” a word with Dutch and African roots that describes a large brownish, black pest.
“Pfeffernuss,” a kind of hard, round German cookie.
Not a speller missed a letter.
Stephan, in Round 28, told judges it was time to skip to a section of their word list that would be toughest. The Wooster girls immediately tripped on “cinnabar” and “malefactor.”
In the next round, Ryan flubbed “submersible” and Murari stumbled over “mimetic.”
Owen was on the verge of his second consecutive win, but first he had to win Round 29 by spelling “sanguinary.”
He did. Finally, only one word stood between him and representing the area in May at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.: “Podiatrist.”
Owen fidgeted. He played with his boxer dog neck tie and asked Stephan to provide him the language of origin for “podiatrist.”
It’s rooted in Greek, Stephan told him.
Owen quickly blinked his eyes, shuffled onto each foot and then spit out “p-o-d-i-a-t-r-i-s-t.”
Applause erupted in the auditorium of the Akron-Summit County Public Library in downtown Akron. Family members used mobile phones to capture the moment. And Owen smiled as his 10-year-old sister, Ingrid, hugged him and a giant dictionary he was holding, a prize for the win.
Owen wants to be concert pianist or violinist in the future. And if not that, a mathematician or scientist.
But for now, he’s devoted to words. Last year, he tied for 22nd place at the national spelling bee. He went out on “xenodochium,” a medieval house for the poor. Owen wouldn’t forecast how he might do at the nationals this year, other than to say he’ll never again forget how to spell “xenodochium.”
Whether he wins at nationals or not, Owen is young enough to compete a third time next year, aiming for a rare t-r-i-p-l-e c-r-o-w-n of the Akron Beacon Journal Regional Spelling Bee.
Amanda Garrett can be reached at 330-996-3725 or agarrett@thebeaconjournal.com.