When 10-year-old Dhivya Senthil finally heard the word that she needed to spell to become Colorado’s spelling champion, one thing went through her mind.
“Yay, I know this word!” said the fifth-grader.
Senthil, who attends Cherry Creek’s Challenge School, correctly spelled “plumicorn” – the tuft of ear-like feathers on some species of owl – in Round 19 to win The Denver Post’s 71st Annual Colorado State Spelling Bee on Saturday.
A total of 285 students from fourth to eighth grade from across the state descended upon Denver to compete for a chance to go to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
A written exam in the morning narrowed the field down to 36 competitors for the oral round. Then, one by one, round by round, students walked up to the microphone to hear their word.
Some breathed sighs of relief upon hearing familiar words, while others were not as lucky. One competitor, upon hearing the word doctrinaire, simply said “uh-oh,” into the microphone.
As rounds went on, the bell indicating a misspelled word rang out as students walked off stage to applause and hugs from their family members. When third-place finisher Jake Keohane stumbled on “purfle” in Round 15, only Senthil and eighth-grader Jacob Durso-Sabina remained on stage.
In Round 16, Senthil misspelled “rutilant” and Durso-Sabina correctly spelled “boniato” to earn a change to win the title in the next round.
But he was unable to spell “vitiate,” and Senthil was given another chance.
“I thought I was doomed,” she said.
In the next round, Senthil correctly spelled “esurient” and Durso-Sabina was unable to spell “caisson,” and Senthil finally clinched the title with “plumicorn”.
