Written by By David Whitney - dcwhitney@mcclatchydc.com
This article originally appeared in The Bee on Friday, May 30, 2008 - METRO section, Page B3
WASHINGTON -- So much of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is luck -- you know the word given to the speller just before you but not the one delivered when you get to the microphone.
Such was the fate with 13-year-old Josephine Kao of Roseville on Friday when, in the seventh round and just 15 spellers between her and the national championship, her luck ran out.
The word was "sphendone," which means a semi-circular park or place. After puzzling over the word, asking about its derivation and scripting the word out on the back of her hand, Josephine spelled it with a "y" at the end -- and judges sounded the bell that counted her out of this year's competition.
Josephine said she had a vague sense of hearing her word before but thinks she would have nailed the word given to 14-year-old Austin Soriano Pineda of the Southern California city of Perris, just before--"torii." Austin nailed it too, sending him into Round 8.
Josephine has competed here before, but had not gone as far as she got Friday. It is her fourth trip to Washington, D.C., as the Sacramento area's top regional speller. Last year she finished in the sixth round.
In a brief interview after her personally disappointing finish, Josephine said she was not sure she would compete again, even though she still will be young enough next year to compete in the regionals in hopes of a fifth trip to the big show.
"I just have to process this," said Josephine, a home-schooled seventh-grader through the Visions in Education Charter School.
Her father, physician Steve Kao, wasn't so certain that his poised and confident daughter would throw in the towel on her spelling career.
"I think she will give it another try," he said.
This year's competition started with 288 spellers. Josephine's seventh-round finish qualifies her for a $500 cash prize as well as a number of smaller commemorative gifts.
Three California spellers head in the final rounds, including fifth-time competitor Tia Natasha-Elizabeth Thomas of Oakhurst.
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