Chapel Hill teens take home top Scrabble prize

Two Chapel Hill eighth-graders defeated dozens of challengers to take home the trophy and $10,000 at the National School Scrabble Championship last week.

Raymond Gao and Kevin Bowerman of Smith Middle School beat 88 teams from across the United States and Canada during the event last Thursday and Friday in Washington, D.C. The boys finished with a 6-1 record and a 717 point spread, according to a news release.

They out-spelled their opponents with words including "yuan," a unit of Chinese currency; "paeon," a metrical foot of four syllables; and "kudu," a large antelope.