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County contestant eliminated from national bee
Bill Clark for SHNS
Sam O'Donnell participates in the National Spelling Bee in Washington earlier today. O'Donnell was eliminated in the fourth round.
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Local spelling champ Sam O'Donnell was eliminated today during the fourth round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee after failing to properly spell "silenus."
Today marked the first day of the national competition in Washington, D.C., with rounds one and two held this morning and rounds three and four in the afternoon. Round one consisted of a 25-word multiple-choice test that included words such as malocclusion, solmizate, halobiont and syssarcosis.
In the second round, O'Donnell, a 14-year-old eighth-grader from Ventura Missionary School, correctly spelled aloof, and in the third round he spelled gesticulate.
But during the fourth round, O'Donnell spelled the word silenus as s-y-l-e-n-u-s.
Ten other spellers were eliminated in the fourth round. Eighteen of 286 national contestants remain.
The fourth round was today's final round. The semifinals take place Thursday, with the finals televised live in prime time on ABC Thursday night.
Posted by kasmirkathy on May 30, 2007 at 4:52 p.m. (Suggest removal)
This young man did an impressive thing. I think it's a shame that the headline is worded to focus on the negative - his elimination. The headline should tell of his accomplishment. "County contestant makes it to fourth round of national bee"
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