Updated 2 hours ago - News

Boulder County speller eliminated at national bee

Mitchell Byars

Two smiling kids stand on a stage; a girl in a blue Adidas jacket stands beside a boy holding a tall blue trophy with a gold cup, while a hexagonal-patterned screen looms behind. — Blanche and Derek Li at the Boulder Valley School District Regional Spelling Bee. Photo: BVSD

Boulder Valley's representative was eliminated in the third round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Tuesday, but one Colorado speller did advance to the quarterfinals.

State of play: Derek Li of Superior and Nikhil Ganta of Timnath were among the 167 spellers to advance to the written tests in Washington, D.C.

But results posted late Tuesday showed only Ganta was one of 95 spellers to advance out of the written round.

Catch up quick: Both Colorado spellers advanced through the first two rounds of the spelling bee.

Li, a seventh-grader from Boulder's Summit Middle Charter School, correctly spelled "sanglier," a wild boar, in the first round.

In the vocabulary portion, Li defined tariff, a word many Americans have grown quite familiar with in recent years.

Ganta, a sixth-grader at Fort Collins' Kinard Core Knowledge Middle School, correctly spelled "boniface," referring to the proprietor of a hotel, nightclub or restaurant.

Ganta later correctly identified "buffoonery" as "foolish shenanigans."

What's next: The quarterfinals and semifinals take place Wednesday, with the final round on Thursday.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect that Derek Li of Superior was eliminated from the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Tuesday.

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Boulder County speller eliminated at national bee

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