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Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe named co-champion of 2015 National Spelling Bee

By BEN NUCKOLS
Vanya Shivashankar, 13, left, of Olathe, Kan., and Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, right, of St. Louis, sit on stage during the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday in Oxon Hill, Md. The Spelling Bee ended in tie for 2nd year; Vanya Shivashankar, Gokul Venkatachalam co-champions. (May 28, 2015)
Vanya Shivashankar, 13, left, of Olathe, Kan., and Gokul Venkatachalam, 14, right, of St. Louis, sit on stage during the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Thursday in Oxon Hill, Md. The Spelling Bee ended in tie for 2nd year; Vanya Shivashankar, Gokul Venkatachalam co-champions. (May 28, 2015) Andrew Harnik AP

OXON HILL, Md. (AP) – They couldn’t be rattled. They couldn’t be denied. Gokul Venkatachalam and Vanya Shivashankar had worked too hard and come close too many times not to win the National Spelling Bee.

So they shared the title, making history in two different ways.

The bee hadn’t ended in a tie for 52 years – until last year. Now it’s happened for an unprecedented two years running.

And Vanya is the first sibling of a past champion to win. Her sister, Kavya, won in 2009.

Vanya’s final word was “scherenschnitte.” After being informed he’d be the co-champion if he got the next word right, Gokul didn’t even bother to ask the definition before spelling “nunatak.”

Gokul finished third last year.

This story was originally published May 28, 2015 at 9:33 PM with the headline "Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe named co-champion of 2015 National Spelling Bee."

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