North Idaho speller out in third preliminary round

COEUR d'ALENE - North Idaho's showing at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., came to an end for another year on Thursday.

Sabrina Smith, a Coeur d'Alene eighth-grader at Prairie Avenue Christian Center School in Hayden, has been in the nation's capital this week representing the Panhandle.

Sabrina misspelled the word "douane" in the third preliminary round, offering "duane" instead.

"We just got back from the announcement for the 48 semifinalists, which she missed by a bit," reported Sabrina's mom, Stefani, from the East Coast. "But I am so proud of her."

Stefani Smith has no doubt her daughter would have correctly spelled the rest of the words in the round three competition list, if given the chance.

"She knew every one of them ... I had just studied them all with her this morning," the mom said.

The 14-year-old went up against 272 other young spellers under age 16 from throughout the nation and as far away as New Zealand, China and Japan.

Sabrina and her mother's trip to the national bee were paid for by The Coeur d'Alene Press. This is the eighth year The Press and North Idaho College have partnered to send a local speller to compete nationally.

NIC hosts the regional bee each year in March, the final contest in a series of local spelling bees at the grade and school district levels. Sabrina won the regional bee last year also. It was the 14-year-old's second trip to the national competition.

"Sabrina felt very good about her first round written test and second round on stage," said her mom.

All spelling bee participants compete in three preliminary rounds in which they accumulate points. The first round, completed on a computer keyboard, includes 50 words, but just 25 of those correctly spelled are used to calculate the speller's preliminary score.

In rounds two and three, spellers earn additional points toward their preliminary scores. No more than 50 participants move on to the semifinals.

A contestant representing North Idaho has not made it past the preliminary rounds in the eight years since The Coeur d'Alene Press began sponsoring the regional winner's trip to the national bee.