PHOTO BY PAULA MULLER
Mitchell Robson is the winner of the 31st Annual Daily Item Regional Spelling Bee.
By MICHELE DURGIN
LYNN — It was easily the longest spelling contest in the city’s history.
Last night, after 115 rounds, Mitchell Robson, an eighth-grader at St. John’s Prep, was the last speller standing.
He was declared champion of the 31st Annual Daily Item Regional Spelling Bee with the winning word: pharmaceutics.
The event, a tie-breaker held at the Lynn City Hall Auditorium, was the continuation of the bee that was held more than a week ago. At the time, Robson, of Marblehead, and Ashrita Gandhari, a third-grader at St. Michael School in North Andover, were tied when the bee was called at 10:30 p.m.
While the crowd was much smaller on Monday night than the first night these two spelling masters met, its importance was not lost on the audience.
On the line included bragging rights and a trip to the National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.
Both finalists spoke of it before they took the stage. Each expressed excitement and confidence.
“I’m not really nervous,” Robson, a three-time winner, said minutes before he went on stage. “I hope I win because I really want to go back to D.C.”
Gandhari expressed similar feelings as she headed to the stage.
“I am very excited to be here and I hope I can win,” she said.
And with that, the two took center stage. They remained calm for the next hour and 15 minutes of seesaw spelling rounds that included words such as usufructuary, cruciferous, and acquisitive.
Neither one appeared to have an ounce of nervousness or doubt. But in the 27th round, Gandhari misspelled the word threnody.
After the contest, Robson spoke highly of Gandhari.
“I’m very relieved this is over,” he said. “This year I felt a lot of pressure because Ashrita has been, by far, my toughest competition.”
Joel and Mary Abramson of Flagship Travel have sponsored the bee for the last three years.
“It was a good night for this young man with a bright future,” said Joel Abramson. “Oh, and Ashrita? As she was preparing to leave City Hall, I wished her well and said goodbye. She looked up, smiled and said ‘I’ll be back.’”