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Minnesotan Makes It To Semifinals In Nat'l Spelling Bee

OXON HILL, Md. (WCCO/AP) -- The journey is over for the one Minnesotan among the 42 youngsters who advanced to the semifinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Eighth-grader Emma Greenlee, of Aurora, stumbled on the word "sarrusophone" after successfully spelling "joculator" in the semifinals.

Her bio at the spelling bee's website says that Greenlee is an honor roll student who also participates with the Minnesota Youth Ski League, as well as Mesabi East High School's varsity soccer and track teams. She is a member of the school knowledge bowl team, also.

Greenlee, who is being sponsored by Lakes Country Service Cooperative in Fergus Falls, was among the 42 who had the highest scores after Wednesday's onstage rounds and a computer test that included a vocabulary section for the first time in bee history.

The officials originally announced 41 semifinalists, but added one more after a review of the written test.

There were originally 281 students competing in this year's competition.

The semifinals continued through Thursday afternoon. The finals are set for Thursday night, with the winner taking home more than $30,000 in cash and prizes.

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