The two young wordsmiths representing Colorado at the Scripps National Spelling Bee were knocked out of the competition Wednesday.
Vedanth “Ved” Raju, 12, survived nine rounds and was among the final 20 contestants still standing in the semifinals before being outdone by the mineral “ellestadite” in the 10th round of the national spelling competition held outside Washington, D.C.
The eighth-grader from Aurora Quest K-8 school, who was sponsored by The Denver Post, sailed through the quarterfinals Wednesday morning before his departure.
He entered the competition this week on a high note, having won the state spelling bee and regional science fair in the same week this spring.
Ved correctly spelled — and, in some cases, defined — the following words (with definitions via Merriam-Webster):
- “Faipule,” a Samoan native councillor heading a political district and belonging to a fono
- “Pathogen,” which Ved correctly defined as “a specific cause of disease”
- “Trivet,” a usually metal or wooden stand often with short feet for use under a hot dish
- “Sapling,” which Ved correctly defined as “a young tree”
- “Apoptosis,” a genetically directed process of cell self-destruction
- “Congrio,” a large Chilean cusk eel esteemed as food
- “Febrile,” which Ved correctly defined as “characterized by fever”
- “Amalaka,” a bulbous or melonlike ornament terminating the shikaras of medieval Indian temples
A couple of those science terms should seem familiar to the eighth-grader, who won first place in the junior category at the Denver Metro Regional Science and Engineering Fair in March for his project developing a plant-based ointment to treat diabetic foot ulcers. Ved has his sights set on becoming a doctor.
He has a good mentor. His older brother, Vikram Raju, took second place at the Scripps Bee three years ago.
Earlier in the day, Boulder speller Blanche Li was bested by tacos.
Blanche, an eighth-grader from Summit Middle School, incorrectly spelled “taqueria” — a Mexican restaurant specializing especially in tacos — during the Bee’s sixth round.
Blanche correctly spelled and defined the following words:
- “Inuk,” a member of the Inuit people
- “Scrounge,” which Blanche correctly defined as “to find or round up”
- “Lastage,” a port duty for the privilege of loading a ship
- “Malleable,” which Blanche correctly defined as “capable of being shaped”
Spelling isn’t Blanche’s only passion. The 14-year-old plays clarinet and tenor saxophone in her school band, loves Ultimate Frisbee and building Lego sets. She’s an aspiring lawyer.
More than 240 spellers started the competition Tuesday and only a handful remained on Wednesday evening.
The Bee’s finals will be broadcast live at 6 p.m. Thursday on the ION network and spellingbee.com.
