Dakota and the Bee, Part Three: On to the Semis

It's on to the semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee for the Nevada contestant, Dakota Jones of Las Vegas.

The seventh-grader at Hyde Park Middle School was one of 48 spellers who advanced to the third day of the bee in Washington.

Today, Jones successfully spelled two words -- "cortisone" and "upas" from the ballroom stage of the Hyatt Grand hotel.

He later learned that he also had scored well on a written test that was given to all 273 contestants on Wednesday. The test consisted of 50 words, but only 25 were counted to the spellers' scores, and they did not know which ones.

As Bee director Paige Kimble announced the semifinalists, Dakota sat in the audience with his father, Mike, a optometrist, and his mother, Jamie. He showed little reaction at first, while his mom smiled at him and his dad patted his knee.

"I'm glad that today's rounds are over and done with and that we get a break," Dakota said at the end of a long day. The 13-year-old sat on stage for long stretches while other students took their turns.

Looking over the results of the written test afterward, Dakota saw he spelled 23 of 25 correctly. That coupled with his performance in today's rounds were enough to propel him to the next one.

The semifinals will be televised live on ESPN at 7 a.m. in Las Vegas. The finals will be broadcast in prime time, airing at 8 p.m. in Las Vegas on ABC-TV.

The family departed the ballroom to begin making calls back to Las Vegas where Dakota's grandparents were watching his three little sisters.

He said Cassidy, 11, Cheyenne, 8, and Carly, 4, would have little problem getting up early to watch him on TV tomorrow.