National Spelling Bee begins

WASHINGTON -- At 8:03 a.m., 14-year-old James Bailey of Scottsboro, Ala., stepped to the microphone and confidently spelled "magenta," and the Scripps National Spelling Bee was underway.

James was the first of a record 288 spellers in the 81st annual bee, all of whom received their one guaranteed moment in the spotlight in Thursday's preliminary round. There was the familiar mix of moments comical and nerve-racking as boys and girls aged 8 to 15 tackled words such as "ambuscade."

A correct spelling counted as extra credit to a written test all the spellers had taken earlier in the week. The top 90 scorers advanced to the quarterfinals Thursday afternoon, the next step on the way to the nationally televised finals tonight.

Tia Thomas, back for her fifth and final bee after finishing eighth last year, received a "Hi, Tia" from Bailly as she approached the microphone. The 13-year-old from Coarsegold, Calif., dispatched "elucidate" with no problem, her smile revealing she knew she had spelled the word correctly before the judges confirmed it.

Tia's chief competition for the title, 13-year-old Matthew Evans of Albuquerque, N.M., later breezed through "somniloquist." Matthew placed sixth last year, the best finish among those who returned for this year's bee.

Tia and Matthew, the only five-time participants at this year's bee, have developed a competitive but friendly rivalry, quizzing each other weekly via computer. They spent a Tuesday night dinner and part of Wednesday trying to stump each other with words from their thick study books.

"Actually, he is the person that I'm most anxious to beat this year," Tia said.

Several of the 22 spellers from Canada made their presence known by wearing bright red T-shirts with their country's name in big white letters on the front. No Canadian has ever won the bee, but Nate Gartke of Alberta was last year's runner-up.

Two countries were represented for the first time. Maria Isabel Kubabom, a 13-year-old from Ghana, misspelled "seder." Jiwon Seo, 11, from South Korea, used her finger to write "innumerable" on the back of her placard before spelling it correctly.

Sriram Hathwar became the youngest competitor in bee history when he folded his arms and spelled "elicitation." Sriram, from Painted Post, N.Y., turned 8 last month and appeared about half the size of the speller seated next to him, 14-year-old Michael Viola of Buffalo.

However, neither Maria Isabel nor Jiwon nor Sriram advanced, all having failed to score well enough on the written test that included words such as "pinyin," "eidetic" and "mustard."