45 advance to final day of National Spelling Bee

[May 30, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- No one has mastered the look of spelling bee despair better than 10-year-old Veronica Penny.

The Canadian with the long blond hair buried her head deep in her hands each time she was presented with a word Thursday at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She did it not once, not twice, but three times -- the third time for a full 20 seconds -- while contemplating the word "paleethnology" in the quarterfinals.

"It looks like she's going to cry," said her mother, Pam Penny. "But she's not. She's just thinking."

So, yes, the moment of drama had a positive outcome. Veronica flawlessly spelled the word -- it has to do with the study of early humans -- putting the first-time participant from Ancaster, Ontario, among 45 spellers who advanced into Friday's semifinals, thus earning a spot on national television.

"I'm thinking," said Veronica, explaining her unconventional on-stage style. "I was in another spelling bee, and that's what I used when the words got harder."

The 81st edition of the bee began early in the day with a record 288 spellers in a competition that has truly hit the big time, inspiring movies, books and a Broadway musical. ESPN will again broadcast the semifinals, and Friday's two-hour finals will be aired live in prime time on ABC for the third consecutive year.

Also in the semifinals are favorites Tia Thomas and Matthew Evans, a pair of home-schooled 13-year-olds who renewed a friendly but competitive rivalry that began in 2004. The only five-time repeaters at this year's bee, they've been quizzing each other via computer for months and spent this week trying to stump each other with words from their thick study books.

Tia, from Coarsegold, Calif., pumped her arms and let out of big smile after spelling each of her quarterfinal words: "emollience" and "scission." "Emollience" falls into a tricky class of words because it has a homonym.

"Everything went according to plan -- except me getting a homonym," Tia said. "I hate homonyms. Those are worst things ever."

Matthew, from Albuquerque, N.M., buckled at the knees after spelling both "philiater" and the unusual sports term "yannigan," a word pertaining to an individualized form of baseball in which players constantly rotate positions.

"It seems not to follow any rules," Matthew said. "It would have been difficult to guess on that one, but I happened to know it."

Matthew and Tia were finalists last year, but another returning finalist, Cody Wang, was eliminated in the quarterfinals. Cody, 14, of Calgary, Alberta, put both hands to his head and gasped in frustration when he misspelled "hierurgical."

The two other returning finalists from last year advanced to the semifinals: Kavya Shivashankar, 12, of Olathe, Kansas, and Anqi Dong, 13, of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. No Canadian has ever won the bee, but Nate Gartke of Alberta was last year's runner-up.

Thursday began with the preliminary round, when all the spellers who made it to Washington received their one guaranteed moment in the spotlight. There was the familiar mix of moments comical and nerve-racking as boys and girls aged 8 to 15 tackled words such as "ambuscade" and "Manhattanese."

"Can you use it in a song?" queried 12-year-old Marie Mach of Dumfries, Va., when presented with the word "espousal."

"You really don't want me to," replied pronouncer Jacques Bailly with a chuckle. "I can't sing."

Marie misspelled the word, guessing "e-s-p-o-w-s-e-l."

A correct spelling counted as extra credit to a written test all the spellers had taken earlier in the week. The top 90 scorers advanced to the quarterfinals.

Two countries were represented for the first time. Maria Isabel Kubabom, a 13-year-old from Ghana, misspelled "seder." Jiwon Seo, 11, from South Korea, used her finger to write "innumerable" on the back of her placard before spelling it correctly.

Sriram Hathwar became the youngest competitor in bee history when he folded his arms and spelled "elicitation." Sriram, from Painted Post, N.Y., turned 8 last month and appeared about half the size of the speller seated next to him.

However, neither Maria Isabel nor Jiwon nor Sriram advanced past the preliminaries, all having failed to score well enough on the written test that included words such as "pinyin," "eidetic" and "mustard."

While the spellers who survived Thursday's rounds were happy to remain in the running for the title, many expressed an increasingly common sentiment that reflects the bee's popularity.

"I'm glad," Matthew said, "to have made it to ESPN."

[Associated Press; By JOSEPH WHITE]

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