There's one name you may have expected to see on the list of finalists who you won't: Naysa Modi, speller 490. The Texas eighth grader was the runner-up in last year's Scripps National Spelling Bee, but she didn't make the finals this time around.
It was a surprise, but surprise is part of the Bee.
"One of the things that's always built into the spelling bee is the element of luck," said Corrie Loeffler, the Bee's editorial director. "It's part of the drama of the spelling bee."
Naysa spelled both her words correctly on stage, but her score on the written Preliminaries Test wasn't high enough to qualify her for the finals this year. Spellers had to get 30 points out of a possible 36 to move on to Thursday spelling.
Still, Loeffler feels for Naysa -- after all, she had a similar experience.
Loeffler tied for sixth place her seventh grade year, and said she dedicated the next year to getting ready to win. She was filmed by a TV crew at school and at home in preparation for a video, and even got her braces off so her smile wouldn't be marred for the camera.
"It becomes your identity," she said of being a presumptive champion.
Then, Loeffler spelled "dispel" with an extra L on the end, and was eliminated in the second round.
"I could not believe that was my real life because that was not supposed to happen," she said. "It was really, really, really hard to deal with. It wasn't just a one-day grieving."
What made it OK, Loeffler said, was the support of the community. And she said since she was in middle school in 1996, the Bee community has only grown.
In time, Loeffler said, she saw the failure as a learning opportunity. She cheered on her friends and was pleased by their success. And she grew from the experience.
"When she's my age, she's going to be really proud of everything she accomplished," Loeffler said. "There's a lot to learn in learning to move on, to make new goals, dealing with failure gracefully."
Loeffler said she understood that the immediate aftermath of not making the finals would be hard. But she hoped Naysa knew she had a lot of support.
"I hope she is so proud of all her accomplishments," she said. "We aren't ever going to stop rooting for her, just because she isn't in competition."
In addition to finishing second last year, Naysa tied for seventh place in 2017, 46th place in 2016 and 50th place in 2015.
Last year, before the finals, Naysa said the Bee was an exhilarating experience that she wouldn't trade for anything.
“I can't help but be happy," she said.