By Bill Straub
Scripps Howard News Service
Tino Delamerced barely missed out out on the finals of the 2009 Scripps Spelling Bee Thursday afternoon, finishing in a tie for 12th place after slipping on the word "clotrimazole'' in the sixth round of the annual competition.
The word, which he spelled chlotrymazo, is defined as an anti-fungal agent to treat ringworm and selected other maladies. Ironically, Tino's father, Dr. Amado Delamerced, and his mother, Dr. Victoria Delamerced, were familiar with the word and knew how it was spelled.
"A doctor would know,'' his mother said.
Regardless, Tino, 13, a seventh grader at The Summit Country Day School, in Cincinnati, advanced further than any other local competitor in years. And he reached at least one of his goals -- he bettered his sister, Anna, who finished in a tie for 25th in the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee.
"I did get in a better place than my sister at least,'' he said.
Tino said he knew he was in trouble when a judge reminded him that his time was expiring. Despite several efforts he wasn't sure about the word's pronunciation.
"I didn't know it,'' he acknowledged.
Tino said some of his success stems from the advice given by his sister, who told him to "take it slow and think about it'' while he was trying to come up with the proper spelling. It was something he practiced throughout the tournament.
There were 16 competitors remaining after the fifth round of spelling and Tino held out hope that all those remaining would be invited to the finals.
"But then they said we were going to overtime,'' he said. "Now I'm glad it's over. When there were about 15 left the words were getting really hard.''
Tino may not be finished with the Scripps National Spelling Bee, as a seventh grader he may have the opportunity to return next year, a possibility he would like to explore.
"I can still do it in the eighth grade,'' he said.
Tino and Madeline Stevens, 14, an eighth grader from Batesville (Ind.) Middle School, were sponsored in the competition by WCPO-TV, Channel 9 in Cincinnati, a station owned by E.W. Scripps Co., the company that sponsors the event.
Madeline also performed well, correctly spelling two words in the public portion of the competition, but she failed to make the semi-finals.
This year marked the 82nd edition of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. No one from the Cincinnati area has ever won the event.
