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Resting for a spell
Friday, March 13, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Jackie Smedley chats with Debbie Standish, her language arts teacher and vice principal at St. John's School in Hollywood, after Smedley won the St. Mary's County Spelling Bee at Chopticon High School on Tuesday. See story on Page A-7.
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The spelling talents of Jackie Smedley and Lance Casimir were so similar, it almost seemed as if they had studied together.
After working through a field of 35 other spellers in six rounds Tuesday night in the 31st annual St. Mary's County Spelling Bee at Chopticon High School, Smedley and Casimir had the stage all to themselves. They spelled off toe to toe through 10 more rounds — even missing the same words three times — before Casimir, a 13-year-old eighth-grader from Mother Catherine Spalding School in Helen, misspelled "eulogy." Smedley, a 12-year-old seventh-grader from St. John's School in Hollywood, corrected that word, then zipped through "macrame" with a slight smile to win the championship. Smedley said the smile was nothing more than relief.
"When [pronouncer Cathy Allen] said the word, I knew it would finally be over," she said. "I couldn't wait to spell it."
Smedley will now represent St. Mary's at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., from May 24 to 30, courtesy of the local bee's sponsors — The Enterprise, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, the College of Southern Maryland and Chaney Enterprises. The final rounds will be shown live on ABC — WJLA Channel 7 in Washington and WMAR Channel 2 in Baltimore. She also received Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary and its Addenda Section, along with the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award, a $100 U.S. Savings Bond. Smedley also won a one-year subscription to Encyclopaedia Brittanica Online.
Smedley spelled "sombrero," "quell," "filibuster," "regime" and "ridiculous" through the first five rounds, while Casimir countered with "pueblo," "tantalize," "doctrinaire," "mediocre" and "endemic," as the field of spellers thinned out. Thirteen went out in the first round, while 12 were eliminated in the second.
When the third round claimed four more spellers, it was down to just eight. Eighth-grader Conor Walsh from Little Flower School sat down after missing "tatami," which is a Japanese floor covering. Later in the round, Rachel Villa of Margaret Brent Middle School was eliminated on "accommodate," followed by St. John's sixth-grader John Winslow on "staccato." Eighth-grader Mary Beth Pappaconstantinou, also of St. John's, ended the fourth round when she misspelled "palmetto."
With just four spellers left, the tension mounted. Kaili Bryer, a sixth-grader from Esperanza Middle School, missed "capitulation" and was eliminated. She had correctly spelled "decoy," "linden" (a tree) and "sequin" in the previous rounds.
Allen, vice chair for the St. Mary's school board and a longtime pronouncer at the county bee, then had the three finalists reintroduce themselves, just to take a quick breather.
After a round, sixth-grader Patrick Capps of Margaret Brent was eliminated on "cordovan," which is a dark, brownish red. Capps had correctly spelled "transect," "albatross," "barrage," "phenomenon" and "thesaurus" in previous rounds.
For his efforts, Capps received an Amazon.com gift certificate and a one-year subscription to Encyclopaedia Brittanica Online.
And then the spelling duel was on between Smedley and Casimir.
"When it was down to just the two of us, it was very exciting," Smedley said. "We both had some hard words."
"Really, I felt happy to get that close," Casimir said. "At that point I was satisfied with whoever won. She's a very good speller."
But neither was conceding anything. Smedley spelled "quinine" and Casimir countered with "bureaucracy." Then they both missed "carafe," and the bee went on. Smedley snapped off "nemesis" and "mayonnaise" to Casimir's "incriminate" and "amphibious." Both missed "gulag" in the 10th round. Smedley's "precipitate" and "bolivar" were matched by Casimir's "chagrin" and "pacificism."
Smedley's opening came when, after she spelled "crescendo," Casimir missed "boysenberry," and she got it right.
With the championship just a word away, she slipped on a second word of Russian origin when she misspelled "glasnost." Casimir corrected that, then had his own clear shot at the title with "forsythia." But he misspelled it, and so did Smedley, before the final two rounds settled the score.
"I'm glad I studied the way I did," Casimir said. "I wanted to make sure of all of the pronunciations, because you need to hear the words to spell them sometimes."
That strategy paid off well for Casimir, who said his favorite subject is not spelling anyway, but math.
As the second-place speller, he won Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition, along with an Amazon.com gift certificate and a one-year subscription to Encyclopaedia Brittanica Online.
