Mouctika Paluri got tonsillitis Saturday and couldn't have been happier.

The 13-year-old regional spelling bee champion from Carrollton knew she'd just won another trip to the national finals in Washington, D.C., when her final word was announced. Mouctika and her mother had just reviewed the spelling of "tonsillitis" on Thursday.

Knowing that tricky double-L in the middle pushed her ahead of 28 other competitors to win the 51st Annual Dallas Morning News Regional Spelling Bee.

"My mom thinks I have a good chance [to win] because all the other veterans are gone," Mouctika said about advancing to the national round. But she wouldn't describe herself as a favorite, even after finishing 25th in the nation last year.

The regional runner-up, 14-year-old Adit Vidyashankar of Dallas, tripped up on the spelling of "patronymic," giving Mouctika a chance for the victory. This will be the third and final trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the eighth-grader from Creek Valley Middle School.

Saturday's field included students from 28 counties throughout North and East Texas, and the winner received an all-expenses paid trip to the finals. The contest was broadcast live on WFAA-TV (Channel 8).

In 2006, Mouctika advanced to the national finals from a regional bee in Grand Rapids, Mich., but she was considered an underdog when she emerged on the local scene last year. She defeated two-time Dallas regional champion Amy Chyao, who had tied for eighth in the national bee a year earlier.

This year, Mouctika was the defending champion and spelling powerhouse. She said the experience of competing since third grade, a good knowledge of the words' roots and patience had helped her succeed. But preparation only goes so far.

"There's a lot of luck involved," she said. "You have to hope for the best."

Mouctika said the word that tripped her up in Washington last year – "gorevan," a type of Persian rug – was one that she couldn't figure out by breaking down its components.

"You just have to know them," said her father, Ram Paluri.

Mouctika said she now knows that word and won't ever forget it.

She said she was calm and focused for Saturday's contest. Mouctika learned previously to slow down her spelling after she once rushed through a word and a stutter was mistaken for an extra letter.

The contest got off to a rocky start with early misses by a couple of spellers. By the fourth word, two students had already been eliminated on misspellings of "giraffe" and "hyphen." After that, the steady string of hits and misses continued as the line of children bunched against the TV studio wall steadily shrunk.

Words from "clementine" to "cryptic" and "transect" to "thwartwise" took their toll on the spellers.

Some eliminated contestants left the stage and headed toward their parents before they even heard the buzzer signaling a misspelling. They knew their guesses were too far off.

Others watched the judges' table intently for the second or two before they knew if they were advancing to the next round.

Children who were eliminated took their seats and usually were greeted by a proud but sympathetic smile from a parent and an arm around the shoulders.

At the end, the final match-up featured contestants who have been entering bees for years and were described by their fathers as naturally gifted spellers. Adit, a student at Newton Academy in Coppell, had never finished this high in a regional bee.

Both Adit and Mouctika have reached the age limit for bees and therefore will be ineligible to compete next year. So Saturday was their final chance to reach the national stage.

Mouctika was read the word "nectarivorous" – which refers to feeding on nectar – and cautiously and correctly answered.

Adit received and missed "patronymic," which is a name derived from a father or another paternal relative. He said after the bee that he had not heard the word before and had to guess.

Mouctika then correctly spelled "tonsillitis" to avoid having to compete with Adit in another round of words. She said the experience of spelling bee competition had been rewarding but that she was unsure how the years of practice and the competitions would help her later in life.

However, the winning word did hint at Mouctika's future plans.

She wants to be a doctor.