Rutvik Gandhasri, speller 20, is a California seventh grader in his first bee. He misspelled "betony" and is out.
Before the finals, Rutvik said he was a bit nervous and very excited.
"It's really cool meeting all the top spellers and being among them," he said. "I always wanted to be here, since I was little."
The experience here is a lot different than watching from his couch, Rutvik said.
"It's a lot cooler here," he said.
For one thing, he got to wear his lucky clothes -- the ones that got him through to this point.
(His father said he washed and ironed them between rounds.)
