3 Colorado Super-Spellers Shine At National Bee

NATIONAL HARBOR, MD-- Three Colorado super-spellers made it to the semi-final rounds of the nation's most competitive spelling bee Thursday. But none of the Colorado finalists made it to the 16 top spots for tonight's final spelling championship.

Forty-one spellers remained Thursday morning in the final rounds of the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention. By the end of the morning, that was narrowed down to fewer than 20 spellers.

On Thursday morning, Lauren Guo, 12, of Westminster, correctly spelled "poutine" (french fries covered with brown gravy and cheese curds), "coelozoic" (bacteria inhabiting the intestinal cavity) as well as "cosmopoietic" and "chrystocrene." But she was tripped up by "cotechino," late in the game.

In her local competition, Lauren, who attends Wayne Carle Middle School, had to correctly spell "desalinates," "frontispiece," and "leicester." At the national contest, she also mastered "whippersnapper" and "gallipot" (a small bowl used by pharmacists).

Jacob Faulk of Slavens K-8 School in Denver made it through Round 4 with the correct spelling of "lotic" (of or relating to actively moving water). He misspelled "lochan" (a nickname for the Scottish word "loch.")

In the local competition, Jake had correctly spelled "falsetto," "vendetta," "Haiku," "consensus," "duenna," and "bele." He made it through earlier rounds spelling "metatarsus" and "arborvitae" (a type of evergreen tree.)

Cameron Keith of Boulder, beat the competition in Round 4 with "grivation" (the measured angle between North and "magnetic North"), "kriegspiel" (a war game played on maps). But he misspelled "chausses," (a knight's pantaloons).

Cameron, who attends Mackintosh Academy, made his way into the final rounds correctly spelling "cholera" and "Zimbabwean."

Students from Ontario, Canada and Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas made the final round.

Image: Lauren Guo made it through several rounds in the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention. via Scripps