Our first champion is Rishik Gandhasri, speller 5. The California seventh grader spelled "auslaut" correctly.
"It's great to be here," said Erin Howard, speller 93 and an Alabama eighth grader.
Her word was "erysipelas."
"Can I have the definition please, I beg you, the definition?"
She spelled it correctly.
Saketh Sundar, speller 132 and a Maryland eighth grader, spelled "bougainvillea" correctly.
Shruthika Padhy, speller 307 and a New Jersey eighth grader, spelled "aiguillette" and got it right.
Sohum Sukhatankar, speller 354, spelled "pendeloque" correctly. He's a Texas seventh grader.
Abhijay Kodali, speller 407, finished third last year. Tonight, he spelled "palama" correctly. The Texas sixth grader is also a champion.
Christopher Serrao, speller 427, spelled "cernuous" correctly. He's a seventh grader from Texas.
And Rohan Raja, speller 462, spelled "odylic" correctly. He's also a Texas seventh grader.
They are all champions.