Westminster teen finishes fifth at Scripps National Spelling Bee

Aditi Muthukumar, 13, of Westminster, Colo., and Bruhat Soma, 12, of Tampa, Fla., react as they compete in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, in Oxon Hill, Md., Thursday, May 30, 2024. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

OXON HILL, Md. — Bruhat Soma was unbeatable before he arrived at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, and neither the dictionary, nor his competitors, nor a lightning tiebreaker challenged him on his way to victory.

Bruhat spelled 29 words correctly in the tiebreaker, beating Faizan Zaki by nine, to win the title on Thursday night. He receives a trophy and more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

The 12-year-old seventh-grader from Tampa, Fla., had won three consecutive prizes before arriving at a convention center outside Washington for the most prestigious spelling bee in the English language.

The Bee began with eight finalists, the fewest since 2010, and it was clear from the start that Scripps was trying to fill the two-hour broadcast window on Ion, a network owned by the Cincinnati-based media company. There were frequent long commercial breaks that allowed spellers to wander to the side of the stage, chatting with their coaches, loved ones and fans.

Aditi Muthukumar, 13, a year 8 student at Westminster, took fifth place in the competition, hearing the fateful bell signaling a misspelled word in the 13th round.

And then Bee officials announced it was time for the tiebreaker, known as a spell-off, before Bruhat and Faizan even had a chance to face off in a conventional tower.

Bruhat went first, and after going through 30 words it appeared he would be impossible to beat. Faizan's pace was more uneven at first. He tried 25 words but missed four.

Shortly after Bruat was showered with confetti and presented the trophy, Faizan was in tears at the side of the stage, accepting hugs from fellow spellers. Minutes earlier, he had hugged his good friend Shrey Parikh after Shrey was eliminated on stage.

After correctly spelling words like “molysite”, “peccant” and “febrifuge”, Aditi misspelled “Lillooet”, who are a Salishan people of the Fraser River Valley of British Columbia.

The word has no known origin, which makes it even more difficult to spell, Aditi told the Denver Post Thursday evening. Word origins allow spellers to use roots and other linguistic rules to determine how a word is spelled.

“I’m quite disappointed, but it’s also liberating to know that I did my best,” she said. “I’m so happy to be back here and I’ve really improved since last year.”

Head judge Mary Brooks praised Aditi's hard work and humility after the bell signaled she had been eliminated from the final competition.