41 advance to spelling bee semifinals
WASHINGTON - Deborah Horton made the most of her time in the national spelling spotlight. The 13-year-old seventh grader from Gainesville, Va., greeted officials yesterday with a perky "hello" and asked every question imaginable about a word she could spell in her sleep.
WASHINGTON - Deborah Horton made the most of her time in the national spelling spotlight. The 13-year-old seventh grader from Gainesville, Va., greeted officials yesterday with a perky "hello" and asked every question imaginable about a word she could spell in her sleep.
Efficient. She wanted all the pronunciations and the part of speech. She wanted it in a sentence. She paused between each letter, then was jubilant when told she got it right.
It was a moment to savor. Of the record 293 participants at the 82d Scripps National Spelling Bee, only 41 moved on to the nationally televised semifinals that start this morning. Those in turn will lead into tonight's prime-time finals and the awarding of a trophy that comes with more than $40,000 in cash and prizes.
Deborah, however, did not score well enough in the written test the previous day to advance to today's rounds.
"It's a bummer - b-u-m-m-e-r," she said as she commiserated with her mother. Deborah's eyes, though, were dry - many nonqualifiers were in tears as they left the hotel ballroom.
"At least I have the pride of spelling my word right," said Deborah, a first-time participant. "I had a lot of fun."
The written test scores were combined with results from yesterday's oral rounds to determine the semifinalists; no contestants from the Philadelphia area are among them. ESPN will broadcast the semifinals starting at 10 a.m., and a dozen or so spellers will advance to the finals, to air on ABC starting at 8 p.m.
Expected to be in that final group are several returning favorites. Keiko Bridwell, 14, of Duncan, S.C., competing for the fourth time after tying for 17th in last year's bee, had no problem with swivel and mahout (one who keeps or drives elephants) in her oral rounds and breezed into the semifinals.
Is it easier now because she's a veteran?
"More pressure," Keiko said. "Everybody wants me to do better."
Among yesterday's milestones was the first speller to represent China. Kun Jacky Qiao, 12, is a seventh grader at the Beijing BISS International School, which caters to the children of expatriates. His family moved to Canada six years ago and has since moved back to China.
Although he was visiting the United States for the first time, Jacky looked right at home. He raced through the word rasgado (meaning the arpeggio effect produced by sweeping guitar strings with the thumb) so fast and confidently that the judges didn't respond immediately. He then looked at them and said, "Correct?"
When they told him he was, he pumped both arms and traded high-fives with fellow competitors on the way back to his seat.
But the competition appeared to sap his energy.
"I'm a bit sleepy right now, so my memory's, like, all gone," he said afterward. He didn't make the semifinals.
The bee has included international competitors for three decades, with two past winners coming from outside the 50 states. This year's field also drew spellers from such far-off locales as New Zealand, Ghana, and South Korea.
The 293 original contestants this year ranged from ages 9 to 15, and were nearly evenly split in gender: 150 boys and 143 girls. Thirty of the spellers had at least one relative who had competed in previous national finals.
Read more about the National Spelling Bee via http://go.philly.com/spellingbeeEndText
