Cherry Hill girl finishes 7th in national spelling bee

Shruthika Padhy, the 11-year-old Cherry Hill girl competing in her second Scripps National Spelling Bee, finished in seventh place during the televised finals Thursday night on ESPN.

At 9:44 p.m., she faltered on the word quintain, defined as "a post with a crosspiece having at one end a broad board and at the other end a sandbag" (obviously!), spelling it as quintin.

One of the show's TV commentators said Padhy's dream was to compete in the final round of the famed spelling bee, and that she did this year.

Padhy, a sixth grader at Rosa International Middle School in Cherry Hill, tied for 22nd place at the spelling bee last year after stumbling on the word tyee, a type of fish.

For her finish this year, Padhy receives a $2,000 prize and an assortment of gifts given to all the competitors.

Ananya Vinay, a 12-year-old girl from Fresno, Calif., won first place at 11:27 p.m. by correctly spelling marocain, which is a dress fabric. With her victory, Vinay receives a $40,000 cash prize, other assorted gifts, and TV appearances on LIVE with Kelly and Ryan and Jimmy Kimmel Live!

The competition was held at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Md.