Mississippi speller advances to finals of national bee

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Dev Jaiswal of Louisville, Mississippi, who had a No. 1 ranking at the national spelling bee ahead of Thursday's semifinals, will advance to the competition's final rounds Thursday night.

Dev, 13, notched a perfect score on a written spelling and vocabulary test Wednesday on his way to the semifinals.

He will be among 10 finalists competing in the championship rounds, to be aired by ESPN beginning at 7 p.m. CDT.

"I've blown my own mind. I'll be happy wherever I place tonight,'' Dev said. ''It's just a great honor to be here.'"

In his on-stage appearances, Dev, an eighth-grader at Winston Academy, correctly spelled "bravura" (great technical skill), "acesodyne" (relieving pain), "boucle'' (a textile fabric for decorating and clothing), and "naranjilla''(a fruit popular in Ecuador and other Latin American countries).

This was the second time at the national bee for Dev, who also competed in 2012. His sister, Rani, competed in 2010.

The 2015 bee began with 283 spellers ranging in age from 9 to 15.

Other spellers cheered for Dev. One even called out, "Dev for president!''

Contact Deborah Barfield Berry at dberry@gannett.com. Follow @deberrygannett on Twitter.