Smrithi Upadhyayula, speller 229, misspelled "theriaca," and we're down to four spellers.
Smrithi is a Texas eighth grader and in her second bee.
"I'm really excited to see who wins," she said before the finals. "I'm not really expecting to win."
But that was OK, she said.
"I'm going to at least get 10th place," she said. "I was relieved because my rank was improving."
Smrithi said she was hoping for a long German word that sounded impressive but was easy to spell.
"I just want to try my best and see what happens."
After she was eliminated, she said, "It's still really good and I'm happy about that."
