Arizona girl moves on to quarterfinals of Scripps National Spelling Bee

PHOENIX — One of Arizona’s two participants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee is moving on to Wednesday’s quarterfinals after perfect preliminary rounds.

Aliyah Alpert, a National Spelling Bee finalist in 2022, made it flawlessly through the first three rounds Tuesday at the competition in National Harbor, Maryland.

Alpert, who is home-schooled in Yavapai County, spelled “cire perdue” correct in round one and “menudo” right in round three to advance to the quarterfinals. The 13-year-old also correctly gave the definition to “detritus,” which is fragmentary material, in the second round.

Arizona’s other speller didn’t fare as well.

Isabelle Garcia, 13, who attends Kyrene del Pueblo Middle School in Chandler, made it through the first two preliminary rounds without fault before spelling “regisseur” incorrectly in the final preliminary round. Garcia spelled “drahthaar” right and correctly defined “debutante” as making a formal entrance into society.

When is the next round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

The quarterfinal round of the national bee will begin Wednesday at 5 a.m. Arizona time.

Alpert is one of 148 spellers who qualified for the round. If she advances to the semifinals, that will start at 5 p.m. Arizona time on Wednesday.

Alpert will get another shot to compete in the finals on Thursday if she remains flawless.

She was the youngest finalist in 2022, misspelling the word “ajivika” in the opening round of the finals for a ninth-place finish.

Alpert won the 2024 Arizona Spelling Bee in March by spelling “volemic” correctly.

Quarterfinal action is available to watch on ionPlus before semifinal and final action airs on ion.

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