Tuesday, May 29, 2001

Day Three: A sigh of relief as the Bee begins

By Eric Enders / Bee Staff

Photos by Mark Bowen / Bee Photographer

Rawle Lucas, 14, Hyattsville, MD, had a peaceful approach to spelling "espaliers."

WASHINGTON, D.C. (May 29, 2001) – With the first day of the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee behind them, nearly three-quarters of the contestants can breathe a sigh of relief after spelling their first words correctly to advance to Wednesday’s second round.

178 of 247 contestants spelled correctly in Tuesday evening’s opening round of the 74^th annual Bee. After two days of relaxation and sightseeing in the nation’s capital, it was time for the spellers to get serious and their parents to get nervous.

One speller who has never been to Washington before is Daniel James Thomas of Kingston, Jamaica. He said that although he looks forward to sightseeing after the Bee, he has spent all his free time so far studying spelling words. For Daniel, making a good showing in the Bee is a matter of national pride. “I’m honored to represent my country, but it makes me a bit nervous,” he said. “It only takes one word to miss, and after I’m out there’s nobody else. There’s only one speller from our island. But I trust God to give me the words I need to get.”

Daniel got one of those words on Tuesday, as he breezed through “berylloid,” a word for a double 12-sided pyramid. Daniel’s spelling coach is the Rev. Glen O.J. Archer, who guided Jamaican speller Jody-Anne Maxwell to the national title in 1999. “He’s a very good coach,” said Daniel, who estimates he has spent 300 hours studying for the Bee over the past four months. “He gets me all the study materials I need. All I have to do is do my work.”

247 of the Bee’s 248 spellers spelled their first-round words on Tuesday. One contestant, Ari Goldstein of Uniondale, N.Y., did not spell because he was observing Shabuoth, a Jewish holiday which commemorates Moses bringing the Ten Commandments down from Mount Sinai. Ari, who represents the Long Island Jewish World in the Bee, will spell his first-round word Wednesday morning, after which the second round will begin. Round three will follow on Wednesday, and the final rounds will determine the champion on Thursday.

Two of the toughest words in the first round were chess-related terms. “Kriegspiel,” a type of chess in which neither player sees the other’s board, was successfully tackled by Leticia Ho Ching of Pago Pago, American Samoa, while Will Wray of East Greenwich, R.I., was tripped up by “zugzwang,” a disadvantageous but necessary chess move. Will struggled to understand the word’s difficult pronunciation, prompting the Bee’s pronouncer, Dr. Alex Cameron, to leave his chair and approach the microphone for an up close and personal pronunciation. It didn’t help, though, as Will left the stage to a large round of applause after misspelling the word.

Some other notable words from the first round of the Bee:

- epigonism: An artistic or literary imitation of an artist by a later generation, spelled correctly by Amanda Whitworth of Columbia, Mo.

- lorgnette: A pair of opera glasses with a handle, spelled correctly by Lindsay Willett of Columbiana, Ohio.

- Menckenese: A flamboyant, caustic style of writing patterned after that of the journalist H.L. Mencken, spelled correctly by Stephen Hou of Fort Mill, S.C.

- parricide: A person who murders his father or mother, spelled correctly by Brendan Chan of Sacramento, Calif.

Many spellers and their families began their day touring some of Washington's monuments, like Jenny Zhang, 14, Atlanta, GA and Sarah Lookingbill, 13, Bel Air, MD who "Biked the Sights," which included a visit to the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial.

Gloria Francis, 13, Miami, FL, posed in front of The Lincoln Memorial with her mom Florency and sister Maria.

Round one of the 74th Annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee began at 4 p.m. in the Ballroom at the Grand Hyatt, Washington, D.C., William Wray, Jr., 13, Providence, RI got up close and personal with pronouncer Dr. Alex Cameron. It didn't help-he misspelled "zugzwang" in round one.

Steven Nalley, 13, Memphis, TN, closed his eyes and correctly made it through "rhabdomancer."

Amanda Whitworth, 14, Columbia, MI, got all kinds of excited on her way to correctly spelling "epigonism."