(CNN) Zaila Avant-garde wasn't focused on her place in history on Thursday when she became the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 93 editions of the competition.
Instead, she was thinking about Bill Murray.
The 14-year-old from New Orleans, Louisiana, won the 2021 crown after correctly spelling murraya -- a type of tree -- that she associated with the famous comedian.
When she realized she won, Zaila gave a little spin and jumped in the air as confetti rained from the sky.
"It felt really good to win because I have been working on it for like two years. So to actually win the whole thing was like a dream come true," she told CNN's "New Day" on Friday. "I felt like in the moment I snapped out of a surreal dream."
Skooma_Lover6969 on July 9th, 2021 at 11:31 UTC »
And here I am, when I lost it in 1st grade in front of the whole school because I couldn't spell "Macaroni"
efficient_slacker on July 9th, 2021 at 09:34 UTC »
The Indian-American dynasty meets its lugubrious end
Throwimous on July 9th, 2021 at 07:45 UTC »
Whoa, wait. You're telling me until now, Akeelah and The Bee was science fiction?