Colorado’s lone contestant left standing in the Scripps National Spelling Bee had her shot at the trophy felled by a type of tree Wednesday morning.
Aditi Muthukumar, the Westminster 12-year-old who won the Denver Post-sponsored state spelling bee this year, made it to the quarterfinal round of the national spelling competition in National Harbor, Maryland, before meeting her match with the word “surette,” a tropical American tree with dark wood and yellow berries.
Nearly 50 spellers from across the country were eliminated in the fourth round, with close to 70 whiz kids advancing to the semifinals.
Aditi, a seventh-grader at Northglenn’s Hulstrom Options K-8, correctly spelled “hsaing-waing,” a Burmese traditional orchestra, in Tuesday’s first round. Aditi then aced the second round, the vocabulary section, by knowing the definition of “accomplice.” Later in the afternoon, Aditi completed the third round with the correct spelling of “infotainment.”
Aditi beat Aurora’s Vikram Raju — who came in second at the Scripps Bee last year — in the state spelling bee this year.
Sofia Tommey Wu, a fifth-grader at Boulder’s Douglass Elementary School, was the second Colorado contestant in the competition, before misspelling the pasta “pappardelle” Tuesday morning.
The grand prize winner of the spelling bee receives $50,000 cash and the illustrious Scripps Cup trophy.
To watch the competition, viewers can check out streams on ION Plus, Bounce XL and spellingbee.com.
The finals will air live in prime time on ION and Bounce from 6 to 8 p.m. MT Thursday.
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