A 25-word championship list wasn’t even enough for one speller to take the crown; for the first time since 1962, two students were declared co-champions of the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee.

14-year-old Sriram Hathwar and 13-year-old Ansun Sujoe went mono e mono for 18 straight words after the third place finisher, Sokul, was eliminated. However, even these two heavyweights had their hiccups along the way to victory.

In the round following Sokul’s exit from the competition, Sriram misspelled corpsbruder, giving Ansun a chance to take the title; but, he got a little too excited and missed the word antigropelos. So, they continued on as if nothing had happened.

Each boy spelled nine words correctly in a row, ranging from Latin-Greek to Japanese words. In the final round, Sriram put the pressure on Ansun when he got his word right. Ansun stepped up to the microphone and received his final word. After exhausting every question he could possibly ask, and with under 30 seconds remaining, Ansun nailed the word feulliton to seal up his co-victory.

A side story coming from this year’s spelling bee was the flamboyant fan favorite, Jacob Williamson. He won over the crowd with his over-the-top celebrations and beaming enthusiasm.

Even in defeat, Williamson stirred up the crowd with his antics.

After hearing the word kabaragoya, he yelled with excitement: “I know it! I totally know it!” He then proceeded to spell it with a “c” instead of a “k”, which surprised everyone, especially Williamson.

As for the co-champs, they proved their worth. Next year, who knows, maybe there will be tri-champions.