"I almost had it!" Sahil Langote, speller 79, exclaimed.
The Delaware eighth grader was close, but not quite close enough, to spelling "palatschinken" correctly.
It's thin egg batter pancakes stuffed with jam.
Sahil tied for 323rd place last year and 41st place in 2017.
Also eliminated so far: Anisha Rao, speller 32, a California eighth grader who tied for 10th place last year. She misspelled ascidium, a pitcher-shaped or flask-shaped organ or appendage of a plant.
Nathan Ostermann, speller 92, misspelled "bodieron," the California sea trout or a related greenling. Nathan is a California eighth grader who tied for 323rd place last year and 189th in 2017.
Dhyana Mishra, speller 116, is a Florida eighth grader. She tied for 42nd place last year and 46th place in 2016. Her sister Stuti was als a competitor, and was the 2012 runner-up. Dhyana misspelled "scaevola," a plant of a genus of shrubs chiefly of Australia and the Pacific Basin having flowers with the corolla tube split and a succulent drupaceous fruit.
Calvin Franke, speller 173 and an Illinois eighth grader, tied for 323rd place last year. He misspelled "Wundtian," of or relating to the theories or investigations of Wilhelm Wundt, one of the founders of the field of modern psychology.
Pranav Chandar, speller 226 and an Indiana sixth grader in his first Bee, misspelled "Marrucinian," a Sabellian dialect of ancient central Italy spoken in the area of modern Chieti.
Blake Bouwman, speller 258 and a Michigan eighth grader in his first Bee, misspelled "coelogyne," a plant of a large genus of tropical Asian epiphytic orchids having mostly yellow and white flowers.
