We have a W-I-N-N-E-R! Spelling bee finally ends after 95 rounds

Last month, we shared the story of the Jackson County spelling bee that couldn't declare a winner because after 66 rounds, it ran out of words.

Grade 5 student Sophia Hoffman and Grade 7 student Kush Sharma had been duking it out for the last 47 of those rounds, nailing words like "scherzo," "fantoccini," "schadenfreude" and "barukhzy."

When the words ran out, the competition had to extended to another date.

On Saturday, the spelling whizzes picked up where they left off and battled for another 29 rounds.

Sophia spelled "Permian" and "muumuu" correctly.

Kush didn't falter on "igneous" or "waywiser."

This time, however, there was a winner.

After Sophia stumbled over "stifling" — she apparently misheard the pronunciation and went with "s-t-e-i-f-l-e-i-n" — her opponent spelled "definition" and earned a much-coveted spot at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., this May.

Sophia was the first person to clap for Kush's win.

"It was a great experience and I'm happy for Kush," she told the Deccan Herald.

"I was pretty sad when she got that word incorrect," Kush said of the bittersweet win against his friend. "That's the game, you know? It's going to come down to one person, whether you're friends or not."

Sophia plans to compete again next year.