Brain power spells success

HOW HARD could it possibly bee? Just ask these whiz kids.

“I felt like it was gonna go on forever. It’s really challenging,” said spelling bee contestant Evan Schleck, 11, of New Explorations into Science, Technology and Math on the Lower East Side.

Schleck joined 72 other brainy students to participate in the final day of the Daily News Annual Spelling Bee, held Thursday at Food and Finance High School in Midtown.

“Here we are again. Let’s hear it for the the best of New York City’s spellers. You are all champions,” said Griselda Garcia, who coordinated the event. “I will not get tired of repeating that you are all champions when you come on to the stage.”

The Daily News has sponsored the annual spelling bee for 54 years. This year, 144 students from all five boroughs went head-to-head for a chance to compete for the crown at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington the week of May 28.

Thursday’s winner, Dante Marinacci, 11, felt luck was on his side.

“‘Peristome,’ the last word I had, I was afraid that ... the ‘i’ was a ‘y.’ But, I guessed correctly,” he said of a word that refers to parts surrounding the mouth in certain invertebrates, moss or fungi. “Some of it is just lucky guesswork. Some of it is etymology — if you know the origin of a word then there are some tips you could use to help.”

Runnerup Owen Shipley-Dean, of Hunter College High School on the Upper East Side, said if the competition looked tense for the audience, it didn’t feel that way on the stage.

“There’s not a lot of fierce competitiveness up there, it’s mostly friendly,” the 13-year-old said. “We were shaking hands and wishing each other well.”

The spelling bee’s pronouncer, Department of Education Budget Director Richard Grzelewski, admitted some of the words are so befuddling, it makes his head spin.

“There’s a lot of fresh words, too. It never ceases to amaze me how many words there are in the English language — ever,”