Thursday, 4:30 PM
At national bee, 5 New Englanders vying to spell this year's 'ursprache'
By Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
Mastering words that included kiddush, arboricole, and exsiccate, five New Englanders entered the semifinals today of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.
After surviving four rounds and a written test, the spellers are vying for a spot in the championship, which will be broadcast live on ABC tonight at 8 p.m. The winner will walk away with $30,000 in cash, a $5,000 college scholarship, and more dictionaries, encyclopedias, and other reference books than they could ever need. Last year's winning word was "ursprache," which means a parent language.
The competition kicked off with 286 contestants who ranged in age from 10 to 15. This morning, the spelling pressure ratcheted up several notches as the students began the sudden-death round, which is being broadcast live on ESPN.
“As soon as a speller misses, they are out of the competition,” Josh Doyle, a spokesman for the spelling bee, said in a telephone interview.
The lone Massachusetts delegate in the semifinals was 11-year-old Akshat Shekhar, a seventh grader at Roxbury Latin School. He stumbled spelling tufoli, adding an extra F. Anjithaa Radakrishnan, 10, from Nashua, N.H., also fell early in the semifinals, flubbing “capilotade,” when she adding a double L.
From New Haven, Joseph Henares nailed his first word in the semifinals, correctly spelling “furfuraceous.” Nguyen Rosa, of Cumberland, R.I., and Lucy Weber of Burlington, Vt., are also still alive in the semifinals, waiting to wrestle with their first words.
Check the results in real time by clicking here.
