NATIONAL SPELLING BEE 2007: ROUND 7

This is when it gets absolutely brutal. We're talking tears as well as cheers.

Heavily favored Andrew Horton cheesed out--painfully--on girolle.

Tia Thomas got weeded out with zacate

Newbie Cody Wang of Calgary found apozem to be bad medicine.

Anqi Dong of Saskatchewan blew it on bouleuterion.

Claire Zhang--who came all the way from Jupiter--took her urgrund with a fatal T.

Kansan Kavya Shivashankar lost her shirt with cilice.

Michigan newbie Nithya Vijayakumar lost her way with pelorus.

And Dallas speller Amy Chyao lost her battled with grognard.


However, Evan O'Dorney swam into Round 8 with rascacio.

Newbie Nate Gartke of Alberta--a student musician--scored with partitur.

Newbie and New Havenite Joseph Henares--perhaps the funniest finalist--exterminated punaise by pulling it apart bit-by-bit.

Missouri's Connor Spencer got lucky and gobbled up helzel--a relatively easy word that even I guessed correctly.

Four-time vet (at 12) Matthew Evans of Albuquerque found success in genizah

Long Island's Prateek Kohli sparkled with rigaree.

Heavily braceletted Wisconsin cheesehead Isabel Jacobson didn't get stuck on helodes--becoming the lone girl to proceed to the next round.