By Jeff Lipton
But it was that extremely difficult-to-spell word that tripped up the 7th-grader and finally eliminated him from the grueling competition.
Zachary finished tied for 17th place out of 288 competitors at the national level. Zachary was one of just 24 spellers who made it to the sixth round in the semifinals of the contest.
Sameer Mishra, 13, of West Lafayette, Ind., spelled "guerdon" to win the competition.
"I got much farther than I thought I would get," said Zachary. "I wasn't really too nervous. If I made one more round and then I got out, it was OK because I didn't expect to get that far."
Up until that point, he surprised himself and his mother, Shari, by spelling words that he never even heard of, including "schnecke," "auctorial" and "abrazo." He said he pieced together clues by asking the judges about the word's definition and its origin.
He said he never really studied for the competition and is a natural speller because he's an avid reader.
"He absolutely surpassed my expectations," said his mom, who sat in the audience, with Zachary's 10-year-old brother Jason and his grandparents, at the Independence Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt, where the competition was held.
"We're beyond proud," she added. "As soon as he made it past the quarterfinals, we were ecstatic."
She said the competitors and their families were all supportive of one another. "They were not cut-throat competitive," she said. "They were all nice, wholesome kids."
The month of May was particularly memorable for the Zagorskis, as Zachary celebrated his bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 24, the day before they left for the nation's capital.
Zachary and his mom were in the Washington, D.C. area for about a week, and enjoyed several activities before the main event began on Thursday, May 29.
On Monday night, May 26, they were treated to a welcome dinner for all 288 competitors and their families at the Grand Hyatt. The next day they were taken to McLean, Va., for a picnic at Turkey Run Park, where the children participated in sporting activities.
The day after that, they took a tour of the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., where they also took a boat ride.
Shari Zagorski said 8- to 15-year-olds from all over the world arrived for the competition, including from Canada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Ghana, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Bahamas, Germany and South Korea. Zachary immediately made friends with many of his competitors, she said.
On Friday, May 30, Zachary's class watched the competition, which was broadcast live on ESPN. He returned to Oceanside Middle School on Monday, June 2, to a hero's welcome and was treated somewhat like a celebrity, with posters made hailing his amazing run in the competition.
"Going back to school was pretty cool," said Zachary, who recently turned 13, adding that he was all caught up with his schoolwork after a missing four days.
In March, Zachary became the Long Island spelling bee champion for the first time, advancing to the elite 81st annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. Zachary beat out 18 other students in the Long Island finals.
Zachary said he is up for the spelling bee challenge again.
"I want to come back next year," Zachary said.
"It was incredible," said his mom. "It was really wonderful for Zachary to share his experiences with other children. As long as he's enjoying it and not being pressured by it... He seems to love it."
Comments about this story? Jlipton@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 210.
