Spellers in San Diego County bee almost left with nothing but S-I-L-E-N-C-E as words run out
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}David Hay had no words for what was about to happen.
And that's sort of important when you're running a spelling bee.
Hay was the bee master Tuesday at The 45th Annual U-T San Diego Countywide Spelling Bee, which was halfway through its tense, two-student final round when Hay realized he was about to run out of spelling words.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Hay says it hasn't happened in his 33 years as master. His 500-word supply is usually plenty, but the 92 middle-schoolers exhausted them, from "macaroni" to "obnuliate" (ahb-NUHL'-ee-ayt).
He had to call a recess and scrounge up some spare words to finish.
Allison Grygar won by correctly spelling "prostrate" and "gurgle" when her opponent botched "scrimmage."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}She'll compete in May's Scripps National Spelling Bee, where presumably words will be plentiful.
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Information from: U-T San Diego, http://www.utsandiego.com