Finals set for Scripps National Spelling Bee

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. - The 2011 Scripps National Spelling Bee was reduced to 13 contestants after a marathon semifinal session Thursday afternoon, setting the stage for a showdown that includes two top returning spellers from last year's competition.

Laura Newcombe, 12, an eighth-grader at Deer Park Public School in Toronto Canada -- one of two Canadians remaining -- and Joanna Ye, 14, an eighth-grader at Lamberton Middle School in Carlisle, Pa., are making return engagements to the final round of the Bee, now in its 84th edition.

Both young women have survived the seven grueling rounds of competition, successfully spelling words like choralcelo -- a keyboard instrument like the piano -- and hypotrichosis - a congenital deficiency of hair.

A new champion for the 84th Bee will be conducted Thursday evening live on ESPN. The 13 remaining spellers are all that's left of the 275 who entered the competition.

Ye, who hopes to become a neurosurgeon, said she found this year's Bee easier than the 2010 edition, noting that last year's contest served to bolster her confidence.

"Last year I didn't know what to expect,'' she said. "Now I know I can spell. There was more pressure last year because I doubted myself. Last year showed that I can handle it.''

Ye said she feels good about her chances.

"But I have no idea what's going to happen.''

Newcombe, who hopes to pursue a writing career, said she found this year's Bee just as rugged as last years' experience.

"They're different words and you still have to spell them,'' she said. "But I do think I'm a bit more confidant.''

The semifinals required seven rounds and over four hours to complete. Only six of the 41 competitors who made it to the semis failed to spell beyond the fourth round and 26 still survived after round five.

Several spellers fumbled around playing for time as they attempted to work out particularly difficult words. Nicholas Rushlow, 13, a seventh-grader at Lakeview Junior High School in Pickerington, OH, asked Dr. Jacques A. Bailly, the Bee's official word pronouncer to use the word drusy -- meaning covered with minute crystals -- in a sentence.

Bailly proceeded to do so but Rushlow shook his head.

"That doesn't help me,'' he said.

Still, Rushlow managed to eke it out only to fall in the seventh round.

In addition to Le and Newcombe, the finalists are: Dakota Jones, 14, of Las Vegas; Nabeel Rahman, 13, of Buffalo, NY; Sriram Jagadeesh Hathwar, 11, of Painted Post, NY; Arvind Mahankali, 11, of New York City; Prakash Mishra, 13, of Charlotte, NC; Sukanya Roy, 14, of South Arlington Township, Pa.; Mashad Nair Arora, 14, of Brownsville, Texas; Samuel Estep, 13, of Berryville, Va.; Veronica Penny, 13, of Rockland, Canada; Lily Jordan, 14, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine; and Dhivya Senthil Murugan, 10, of Denver.