Murrieta Speller Wins County Bee, Heads to Nationals

A Murrieta student won the Riverside County Spelling Bee today, moving her up to compete in the Scripps National Bee.

After 17 rounds and three hours on stage, Shruti Amin, an eighth-grader at , correctly spelled “brockage” (a coin that has been minted incorrectly) Wednesday to win the 35th Annual Riverside County Spelling Bee, according to a news release.

It was Shruti's fourth trip to the county bee after , and her first time to earn a ticket to the national level, said Rick Peoples, spokesperson for the Riverside County Office of Education.

“It’s nerve wracking,” Shruti said after the bee, hugging her parents. “But I was excited.” She previously represented the county at a state level spelling bee while she was in grade school.

This year’s Spelling Bee attracted 26 competitors, all champions of spelling contests in 18 local school district bees or the eight charter and private schools that participated, Peoples said.

Just before noon, Shruti found herself alone on stage at the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center after all other spellers had misspelled words. She spelled “duchy” (a domain ruled by a duke or duchess) and then her winning word to capture the title.

Shruti will represent Riverside County at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, set for May 27 to June 2 at Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in Maryland.

The top finishing elementary school students will represent Riverside County at the California State Elementary Spelling Bee to be held April 21 at the San Joaquin County Office of Education in Stockton.

Keerthana Sivathasan is a sixth-grader from Corona Ranch Elementary School in the Corona-Norco Unified School District and Emily Africa is a fourth-grader from Oak Meadows Elementary School in the Menifee Union School District.

The event is co-sponsored by The Press-Enterprise newspaper and the Riverside County Office of Education.