UPDATE: Valley View Student Finishes 19th at National Spelling Bee

eighth-grader Anja Beth Swoap cruised through five rounds of competition at the 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee, but ultimately found her match in "weltschmerz."

The 14-year-old was eliminated in the sixth round of the spelling competition, finishing tied for 19th place during this year's bee. This was the second year in a row Swoap made it to the semifinals and her third year of qualifying for the National Spelling Bee.

The semifinal rounds saw Swoap nail the spelling of "fissipedal" and "aretalogy," but her journey came to an end when she mistakenly spelled "weltschmerz" as "weldschmerz." For the unfamiliar, weltschmerz is a German word referring to "mental depression or apathy caused by comparison of the actual state of the world with an ideal state."

Before making it to the semifinals, Swoap first had to take a 25-word written test on Monday, tackling vicious words like "jiggety," "Kafkaesque" and "hukilau." She was among 275 young spellers put through the wringer during the first three rounds of the bee, during which she successfully spelled "mesmerize" and "calvities"—the latter a noun describing "the condition of being bald." Misspelled words in those tests don't disqualify spellers from further competition, but only correctly spelled words earn points toward earning a trip to the semifinals.

The National Spelling Bee winner receives more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.

Swoap tied for 20th place last year after correctly spelling "kanban" and missing "icteritious" in the semifinals. Swoap qualified for this year's National Spelling Bee by successfully spelling "triforium" to cap off 16 rounds of competition at the Seven County Metro Area Regional Spelling Bee. 

After six years attending , Swoap is fluent in French, learning Spanish and aspiring to master German and Italian. She also is on a competitive high-kick dance team, plays soccer, crochets and spends time with her dog, Patches. Her friends have nicknamed her "scarf queen" for her large collection of scarves.