LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles and Orange County contestants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee were both eliminated in the fourth round Wednesday.
Oliver Halkett, a 12-year-old sixth grader who attends The Mirman School in Brentwood, misspelled desinent, an adjective meaning forming an end. He spelled it "desonant."
Katelyn Nguyen, a seventh grader at Helen Stacey Middle School in Huntington Beach, misspelled ritsu, a Hinayana Buddhist school founded in Japan in 754. She spelled it "ritzu."
Oliver and Katelyn were among 148 spellers from the original field of 245, the largest since 2019, to advance to the quarterfinals by correctly spelling two words and answering a vocabulary question during Tuesday's preliminaries.
Oliver began the bee at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland by correctly spelling desiccate, a verb meaning to dry up. He then chose the correct answer to the vocabulary question "Acerbity is?" selecting "a manner that is harsh, biting or irritated."
In the third round, Oliver correctly spelled doxycycline, a broad- spectrum tetracycline antibiotic used orally to treat various bacterial infections.
Katelyn correctly spelled ubi sunt, the Latin phrase meaning of or relating to a type of poetry reflecting on transience and mortality. She then correctly answered the vocabulary question "A schooner is a type of?" by selecting boat.
In the third round, Katelyn correctly spelled durbar, court held by an Indian prince or a formal reception held by an Indian prince or an African ruler.
There were 54 spellers eliminated in the first round, 15 in the second and 28 in the third.
With the bee limited to students in eighth grade or below, Oliver and Katelyn will both have the opportunity to compete in next year's bee.
No speller from Los Angeles or Orange counties has won the bee.