National Spelling Bee becoming easier to predict
To the tightknit community of spellers and ex-spellers who track performances leading up to the bee, Nihar was something else: a seasoned competitor with an impressive resume and a threat to win it all.
There's more information available about kids in the bee, and champion spellers have increasingly fit a familiar profile.
"There's definitely an established set of favorites, and as you have more well-known spelling bees to compete in, you have more barometers of how well people are going to do," said Mitchell Robson, 15, who finished 7th in last year's bee.
The nonprofit foundation hosts national competitions for Indian-Americans in a variety of academic fields.
Things were different a generation ago, before the internet and before the creation of the North South Foundation and South Asian bees.
Shourav Dasari, a past North South Foundation and South Asian Spelling Bee champion whose older sister came close several times; Siyona Mishra, who won last year's South Asian bee and finished 9th in her only National Spelling Bee appearance; and Tejas Muthusamy, who's making his fourth appearance, with two previous top-10 finishes.
"In almost every bee there's a kid or a handful of kids that there's a lot of chatter about because they've done well previously," said Paige Kimble, the bee's executive director.
"Participating in the South Asian Spelling Bee helps you prepare for spelling on stage and figuring out words you've never seen before," Siyona said.