‘Tiralee’ trips up Las Vegas seventh-grader at national spelling bee

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's entrant in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, seventh-grader Dakota Jones of Las Vegas, spent Friday recovering after he was eliminated in a morning semifinal round.

Dakota, a student at Hyde Park Middle School who was sponsored by the Review-Journal, was one of 48 spellers who survived early competition and advanced to the final day. But on the fourth round, he was tripped up by "tiralee," a noun meaning "a succession of musical notes, as in a bugle call."

Fielding the word at the microphone onstage in the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt hotel, the 13-year-old put his hands on his hips and took a succession of deep breaths that were audible over the mike. It was clear this was a stumper.

There were long pauses as he searched within, and then he ventured ...

"T-I-R-A-L-E."

Another long pause. Then the chime that signaled he has been eliminated.

His parents, Mike and Jamie, greeted him as he was led offstage. It was the end of an adventure for the speller, who also competed this year in a national math competition in New Orleans.

"When I heard the word I was really quite confused," Dakota said . "I remembered somehow reading that word in a book, and so I just decided to go with that."

Dakota and his parents took a break from the bee on Friday afternoon and visited the U.S. Capitol and the Library of Congress. Back at the hotel later in the day, he had his picture taken with surprise bee visitor Shaquille O'Neal.

"My shoulders were about to his belt buckle," Dakota said.

The contest over, Dakota said he looked forward to "getting back to normal.

"I just have to stop spelling for a while," he said.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Steve Tetreault at stetreault@stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.