Massachusetts Student Takes 7th in National Spelling Bee

Marblehead's Mitchell Robson took seventh place Thursday in the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals, tripped up by the word's German origin but still the recipient of a standing ovation.

He was one of 10 broadcast on ESPN Thursday night, whittled down from the original 274 qualifying national competitors. The St. John's Preparatory eighth grader was one of four Bay State students competing to win in the 2016 national Bee, but the only one who survived the preliminaries to reach Thursday's final rounds.

Already today, Robson, 14, out-spelled the competition for eight rounds, Earlier words included "pentecostys," "nagelfluh," "formatore" and "piqueur."

However, he finally got stuck on a plural noun of German origin during the ninth round.

The word was "wehrmacht," and the traditional "v" pronunciation tricked him on the very first letter. The noun means "the armed forces especially of Germany from 1935 to 1945," according to Merriam-Webster, the Bee's go-to guide.

Patch provided a round-by-round coverage of tonight's finals (below).

8:55 p.m.

Robson is out, taking seventh place, foiled by the German "wehrmacht."

"I'd like to thank my friend Amber for helping me and family and especially my grandmother for helping me. Thank you," Robson said.

8:25 p.m.

Nine contestants remained by the time Robson took the stage for the first time in round eight. "Esquisse" was the word, and he spelled it correctly after getting as much information from the judges as possible.

7:55 p.m.

Five minutes to start. The contestants are ready.