A Goodyear teen advanced to the semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee with 49 other spellers Wednesday, outlasting 228 students in the first three rounds of competition.
Sumaita Mulk, 13, correctly spelled "regale" and "zapateado" in the second and third rounds to move on.
"I'd had both words before, but the first is way more common," Sumaita said.
Another Arizona teen, Aarish Raza, of Chinle, won the Navajo Nation spelling bee to get to the national competition, but he was eliminated Wednesday evening.
Aarish, a seventh-grader at Chinle Junior High, correctly spelled "vettura" and "alcazar" during Wednesday's competition but did not get enough words right in Tuesday's first round to advance.
"All that are here are winners," said Mohammad Raza, Aarish's father. "Aarish did his best, and that's all we care about."
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It was the first appearance at the national bee for both Arizona teens, who said they practiced one to two hours a day in the months leading up to the competition.
Sumaita will compete in the semifinals this morning. In that round, spellers are bounced as soon as they misspell a word.
If Sumaita spells all her words correctly, she will advance to the finals tonight.
Cronkite News Service
