The spell of victory

For Hannah Li, the third time was a charm.

After just missing the top spot the past two years, the 13-year-old from Los Alamos Middle School won first place Saturday in the New Mexico State Spelling Bee.

Li spelled “biquintile” and “hygrometer” in the championship round to best Max Berger, who took second place after misspelling “dysautonomia,” which is a disorder of the nervous system. Cuillena Spacek, of Hills Academy in Farmington, took third after misspelling “sonobuoy,” a sonar system used to detect submarines.

In late May, Li will head to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., to go against the best in the country. 

The bee began at 9 a.m. Saturday inside Smith Brasher Hall at Central New Mexico Community College in Albuquerque. The competition saw 25 contestants from all corners of the state challenged to spell words including “chupacabra,” “du jour” and “asgard.”

Throughout the morning, the number of competitors was whittled down — felled by “en masse,” “diocese” and “clavichord,” among other words — until only Berger and Li remained on the stage.

The pair took turns failing to spell words like “ibis,” “taffeta,” “viridity” and “pulmonate” before Li bested her opponent in the 30th round.

Despite spending the better part of her childhood studying words, Li was at a loss for the right one to describe how it felt to win.

“It’s like, the feeling of knowing all your work paid off,” Li said with a wide grin, holding tight to her trophy. She said the past two state competitions, in which she placed second and third, only fueled her determination to win.

Li said although she couldn’t study as much this year due to other activities, including speech and debate, she switched up her strategy by learning the spelling patterns of different languages — hoping it would pay off when it came to spelling dictionary words, the ones the competitors were not able to study beforehand. 

When asked if she was worried during the hourslong competition, which saw children and parents alike tugging their hair and burying their faces, the eighth grader replied, “not really.”

Li, having competed in her last spelling bee, said it is important not to get discouraged. She said, “Just like keep trying. I wanted to win the past couple years but I couldn’t, so just keep trying and you’ll reach your goal.”

Berger, of Albuquerque Academy, had never come so close to first place, having reached fifth twice before in the state bee.

“I’m always coming up short, second place is a huge achievement, nonetheless,” he said. “It could hurt a little bit. I mean, you’re right there, but it still feels amazing — I’ve done so much, worked so hard at this.”

Spacek, having lost last year, said third place felt pretty good. She said this year she studied harder.

“I did more words, way more words than last year,” Spacek said. 

Of the words she spelled correctly Saturday, “sectarian” was the one that caught her off guard. Spacek said she used the skills she has learned to figure it out in the moment.

Spacek, a sixth grader who hopes to be a scientist someday, said it will be her last year competing in the bee. Her father, who beamed proudly next to Spacek, chimed in with a laugh: “Too much studying.”

Wen Feng, Li’s father, said he was unable to be too stressed during the final rounds because he had to text constant updates to her mother and a couple friends on how she was doing. He added, “That kept me busy.”

“But it might be a lot of pressure for Hannah,” Feng said.

He said, before the state bee and regardless of the outcome, the family had planned a trip to the East Coast this summer. Now, Feng said giddily, they have to figure out what sights to see in the nation’s capital — and hope to come home with another trophy.