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Las Vegan Dakota Jones moves to semifinals at National Spelling Bee

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Two-time Nevada spelling bee champion Dakota Jones reached the semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee on Wednesday after two days of competition that saw 234 competitors fall by the wayside.

The 14-year-old eighth-grade student at Hyde Park Middle School in Las Vegas was to be one of 41 contestants to battle today in the knockout phase of the 84th Bee, which will be televised live on ESPN starting at 7 a.m. PDT.

To reach the semifinals, Dakota survived a 25-word written test on Tuesday and two oral rounds on Wednesday, in which he correctly spelled "recidivist" and "garibaldi." He needed to spell at least 23 of the 25 words on the written exam to advance.

Dakota also reached the semifinal round last year, in which competitors face elimination round-by-round.

Dakota was confident on stage Wednesday during a morning and afternoon oral round. But he took his time to make certain of his spelling. Jones asked Bee pronouncer Dr. Jacques Bailly a series of questions. Only until he had the definition, word origin and heard it used in a sentence did Dakota venture his answer.

"I wanted to make sure I had the right word," Dakota explained.

Mike Jones, Dakota's father, said his son was motivated to prepare even harder for this year's competition after making the semifinals last year.

"The main thing he's done is studied on his bus rides to school. He rides quite a way, 50 minutes to an hour each way," Mike Jones said. "So that is a couple hours study time on the bus to and from school. And, after homework he tries to study a little bit more."

Dakota still has time for many other activities. He plays viola in the school's orchestra and is working on becoming an Eagle Scout. He also participates in math competitions.

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