That Jersey girl can spell "Ursprache" (German for language) means victory for Spring Lake teen in national bee Friday, June 02, 2006 • BY ROBERT COHEN • STAR-LEDGER WASHINGTON BUREAU WASHINGTON -- A poised and confident 13-year-old Katharine Close of Spring Lake stepped to the microphone, calmly spelled "Ursprache" and walked away with the top prize last night in the 2006 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The New Jersey eighth-grader, taking part in her fifth national competition, outlasted 274 competitors and with the victory took home $32,500 in cash, $5,000 in scholarship money, a reference library and an engraved loving cup. It came down to Katharine and 14-year old Canadian Finola Hackett, who battled round after round. After Finola missed "weltschmerz" (a mental depression or apathy), Katharine nailed "kundalini," (a Yoga life force at the base of the spine). She then easily spelled "Ursprache" -- a word of German derivation meaning a parent language reconstructed from other languages -- to become the champion. "I couldn't believe it. I knew I knew it. I was just in shock," she said afterward. "It feels great," said the smiling teenager. The tension-filled championship rounds featured 13 spellers and were televised live on ABC -- the first prime-time broadcast of the national bee. Between rounds the network showed video profiles of many of the contestants, including Katharine. The latest example of "reality TV," the broadcast gave viewers a close-up look at the anxiety, excitement and heartbreaking disappointment of the bee that has previously been captured in movies such as "Akeelah and the Bee" and "Spellbound." The spellers, dressed in white polo shirts with numbers hanging from their necks, sat on chairs on a red and blue made-for-TV stage under the glare of the television lights. The cameras focused on the youngsters as they stood at the microphone to spell, as they sat in nervous anticipation to take their turns, and as they walked away in defeat, sometimes in tears, to sympathetic groans from the audience. During the first seven rounds, Katharine correctly spelled "gobemouche," "Galilean," "chiragra," "Bildungsroman," "terrene" and "cucullate" -- putting her among the group of 13 finalists participating in last night's competition. Last night, the words she correctly spelled included "synusia," "towhee," "shedu," "hukilau," "clinamen," "recrementitious," "psittacism, "aubade" and "izzat." Her competitors missed such words as "Nauruz," "gematrial," "Mithraeum," "giocoso," "collyrium," "appenzell" and "syringadenous." The normal brisk pace of competition was slowed to accommodate television commercial breaks, commentary from ABC hosts and the video segments, which were not seen by the spellers in the downstairs ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Washington. During the breaks, the contestants stood up, stretched and chatted with each other. Last night marked the final national spelling bee for Katharine, a student at the H.W. Mountz School in Spring Lake. She made her first national spelling bee appearance at age 9 and tied for seventh place last year. Sponsored by the Asbury Park Press and the Home News Tribune, Katharine prepared by reviewing all the words used in the bee since the 1950, looking up the origins of words and testing herself with unfamiliar words from an unabridged dictionary. Her mother, Paula, said her daughter has a tremendous "work ethic" and has studied words one or two hours a day over the course of five years. Despite this dedication, she said, Katharine -- or Kerry as she is called by friends and family -- leads a normal life of a teenager that includes soccer, sailing and going to the movies and shopping mall. The television video showed Katharine her riding her bike on the boardwalk with her dog in a basket, sailing and walking on the beach. It included interviews with her schoolmates talking about her intellectual prowess, and her own comments sensing that one major part of her existence and identity is coming to an end. "She has gained a lot of confidence and poise that will serve her well for the rest of her life," said Katharine's mother. Her grandmother, Delores Connolly of Summit, held rosary beads and Katharine's ragged childhood stuffed cat for good luck. "She is so calm and I'm a nervous wreck," said Connolly as the competition was taking place. The annual national bee began with students winning contests in the 50 states, as well as in American Samoa, the Bahamas, Canada, Europe, Guam, Jamaica, New Zealand, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The competition was filled with tremendous letdowns, moments of levity and joy. Saryn Hooks, 14, of North Carolina, was eliminated in Round 8 and in tears -- then was reinstated when the judges realized they had made a mistake. She was one of three remaining when she incorrectly spelled "icteritious." Serenity Fung of Somerset had made it to the fifth round yesterday afternoon but tripped up on the word "alcazar," a palace or fortress of the Moors in Spain. "I didn't know the word. I just made a guess. I had no idea how to spell it," said the disappointed New Jersey home-schooled 13-year-old. Her mother, May, said she was proud of her daughter and her "courage to stand up there." "I don't want her to feel discouraged for missing a couple of English letters," she said. "It's not the end of the world. There is so much out there waiting for her." New Jersey contestants who participated Wednesday but did not make it to the second day of competition were Joseph Reed of Deerfield Township Elementary School; Austin Tamutus of MacFarland Junior School in Bordentown; Tianqi Wang of Ramapo Ridge Middle School in Mahwah; and Nisha Sadanand Naiyk of St. Anne's Parish School in Jersey City. The Associated Press contributed to this report. © 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with permission.