Colorado’s two entrants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee were eliminated today as 41 of the 293 middle-school spellers advanced to Thursday’s nationally televised finals in Washington, D.C.
Christian Smith, an 11-year-old fifth-grade home-schooler from Highlands Ranch, and 12-year-old David Phan, a sixth-grader from Boulder, were both eliminated.
Competitors took a 50-word written test Tuesday. That score was combined with Wednesday’s two oral rounds to produce the semifinalists.
Results of the written tests were not released, but on Wednesday Phan correctly spelled “perpetual” in the second round and “torrefaction” in the third.
Smith misspelled “grandiose”, leaving off the e, in the second round and correctly spelled “maladive” in the third.
Phan attends Nevin Platt Middle School in Boulder. He was sponsored by the Boulder Daily Camera. Smith was sponsored by the Denver Newspaper Agency, publisher of The Denver Post.
