Today (Friday) is the final stage of the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee. The ones who made it will face off in Washington for a prize of more than thirty thousand dollars, a trophy, and a reference library.

A record two hundred and eighty eight children enlisted to participate in Thursday’s Preliminary round. Forty five kids are left in the contest.

Only 90 of the 288 spellers who competed in the qualifying round made it to the next level.

Another record was breached this year. A student from Painted Post set the record for the youngest participant in the history of the spelling contest. His name is Sriram Hathwar, an 8-year-old second grader at Chemung Valley Montessori School in Big Flats.

After adjusting the microphone to his height, the 8-year-old nailed the words the judges gave him: "E-l-i-c-i-t-a-t-i-o-n" said Sriram.

Although the word was trickier than what the other opponents got at this stage of the competition, he spelled it without pausing between letters.

The other contestants were asked to spell words such as "rigatoni,” "macaroon," "palmyra," "fanchonette" and "sarcoidosis."

The crowd cheered louder for the little contestant as he went back to his seat and disappeared behind the other Scripps National Spelling Bee contestants, all taller than him.

Sriram wasn’t allowed to advance to the contest’s quarterfinals stage because of his score on a written spelling test administered earlier this week.

Nevertheless, Sriam should be very proud of his achievement. He entered the history of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.