Number 1 in the program, Number 1 in the competition

It was merely a coincidence that 10-year-old David Lye was assigned the number one as part of the group of 45 participants in this year’s Olathe Public Schools Spelling Bee.

Little did David know that he would live up to that number by taking first place at this year’s competition.

Now, the fifth-grade student from Sunnyside Elementary School will soon be his way to the Washington, D.C. area to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee which will be held May 28-June 3.

Even while clutching his first-place trophy, David still couldn’t quite believe what had just happened to him.

“I was surprised and really excited,” David said.

David secured his first-place finish by correctly spelling the word “plutology.” He said he knew how to spell the word because of his love of Greek mythology.

Kelly Vuong is David’s mom. She has spent months quizzing David on his spelling words. She watched cautiously from the audience as he attempted to spell his final word.

“I was really nervous for him,” Vuong said. “He gave me a knowing glance but I still wasn’t sure if he knew how to spell it.”

David credits hard work and a spelling word app for helping him do so well in the competition.

“We started practicing during Thanksgiving break,” David said. “We practiced 40 words a day. But we did take Christmas Eve and Christmas day off.”

The competition was held Feb. 9 at Frontier Trail Middle School and was sponsored by The Olathe News, a publication of The Kansas City Star. Students from 44 Olathe elementary and middle schools, along with one private school, competed in the event. The competition went 16 rounds before getting down to the final two spellers.

In the end, it was David and Indian Trail Middle School eighth-grader Kruti Nataraj who would vie for first place.

The two went an additional 17 rounds over about 45 minutes before David was declared the winner.

“When it came down to both of us, I was just glad to know that I was going to end up with either first or second place,” Kruti said.

Like David, Kruti spent a lot of time preparing for the Olathe spelling bee. This was Kruti’s fourth year in a row to make it to the bee.

She started a strict practice regimen two weeks ago. She practiced word lists every day after school from 4-7 p.m.

Kruti’s mom, Geetha Nataraj, said that watching her daughter survive 33 rounds and compete with other spellers for nearly three hours gave her immense pride.

“She worked so hard,” Geetha said. “She wanted to win either first or second place, so we are just so proud of her.”

Now the hard work begins again for David as he prepares for the Scripps National bee.

Students from Olathe have a history of success in this competition. In 2009, Olathe’s Kavya Shivashankar won the competition. In 2015, her sister Vanya Shivashankar was named one of two co-champions of the national spelling bee. In fact, Vanya was in the Frontier Trails auditorium from beginning to end to show her support for the contestants, and to hand out trophies to the two finalists.

For the time being, David is just enjoying his victory and looking forward to his first trip to Washington, D.C.

David’s father said the whole family will be there to cheer him on when he takes to the national stage.

“We are all going to go watch him,” Kin Lye said. “We are so proud of him.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2017 at 2:42 PM with the headline "Number 1 in the program, Number 1 in the competition."