WASHINGTON — Iolan Clara Wicoff, 14, ended her final bid at the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday afternoon.
Wicoff missed qualifying for the semi-final round by one point. She scored 22 points of the 23 necessary to become a semifinalist. Fifty of the 278 spellers qualified for this morning’s competition.
When on stage, Wicoff correctly spelled “shuddering” and “fraise,” a decorative ruff worn around a woman’s neck in Elizabethan times.
In the written portion of the competition she spelled 16 of the 25 words correctly.
Last year, five spellers got perfect scores, and semifinalists could only afford to miss two words. This year’s test was much more difficult — so, 17 out of 25 was enough to advance.
Vanya Shivashankar, 10, of Olathe was the only competitor to enter the semifinals with a perfect score. Her older sister, Kavya, won the 2009 national bee.
The championship finals are tonight from 7 to 10 and can be viewed on ESPN2.
