Tara Singh, speller 207 and in her fourth Bee, is out.
The Kentucky seventh grader misspelled piatti, cymbals.
Before the Finals, Tara said she was honored to be a repeater. She planned to try her best and to have fun.
"It was a very nerve-wracking experience, but very exciting," she said. "There's a lot of luck involved."
Tara blogs at https://thewordexplorer.blog/. She eats dark chocolate before every Bee.
She was more nervous this Bee, she said, as she "realized the enormity of it."
Tara, a Hamilton fan, said she could not have been happier to learn that Lin-Manuel Miranda retweeted a Bee tweet referencing Hamilton, and adding "Go Tara!"
"This is the best day of my life!" she said.
Tara tied for 43rd place in 2013, 50th place in 2015 and 22nd place last year.