Last frame not a rosy picture for local speller Written test his undoing. Seventh-grader falls 4 points shy of earning a berth in bee's third round. Thursday, June 01, 2006 • By BILL CAHIR • The Express-Times WASHINGTON, D.C. | David M. Yannarella stood in the packed ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Hotel, faced the television cameras and spoke clearly into the microphone: E-G-L-A-N-T-I-N-E. Yannarella, wearing a white-and-tan striped polo shirt, white khaki pants and white sneakers, was right on the mark. But it was already too late. The 12-year-old seventh-grader from Harmony Township School failed to advance to the third round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Yannarella, a Harmony Township resident whose participation in the National Spelling Bee was sponsored by The Express-Times, correctly spelled eglantine, a word that refers to a rose with pink flowers, fragrant leaves and a thorny stem. "I had to ask for the definition," said Yannarella, a collector of stamps, rocks, fossils and sports cards. "I wasn't sure if there were one or two Gs." However, during a written test administered in the first round, Yannarella had scored 14 out of 25 words correctly. The first-round written test featured a few words that were not terribly difficult, such as haggle, apparel and allege. But there were several tougher examples: cembalo (a harpsichord); perciatelli (a hollow pasta), Capharnaum (a town mentioned in the gospels); oeillade (a flirtatious look); and sprachgefuhl (an intuitive feel for a language). Yannarella's combined tally of 17 points fell below the cut-off for round three, which required a two-round score of 21 points or more. Only 97 competitors, or 35.4 percent of the original 274 spellers, qualified for the third round. "It's been fun," said Martin Yannarella, David's father. "We haven't been hammering him with the studying. He's been having a good time." Martin Yannarella gave his son a hug when the third-round numbers were announced and David wasn't called. "We try to keep the focus on (having fun) instead of putting a lot of pressure on him. It's been pretty low key," Yannarella said. David's mother, Peggy Yannarella, said it was exciting to see her son compete among the top spellers in the country. "We're just proud he got this far. It's amazing," she said. Some of the spellers showed a bit of cheeky humor Wednesday. Jeremiah D. Weaver, a 10-year-old fifth-grader from Jackson, Mich., had a question about his word, xiphias, or swordfish. "Can you spell that?" Weaver asked the bee judges. "Not right now," replied Jacques Bailly, the questioner. Weaver quickly spelled xiphias correctly. But his humor got him only so far. Weaver didn't qualify for round three. The bee finals will be broadcast live tonight on ABC television, taking a position in the network's prime time lineup for the first time. Previous bees have aired on ESPN. Spellers like Yannarella -- those who earned more than 10 points in the national bee but failed to qualify for the third round -- earned a $100 savings bond, a $50 cash prize from Scripps, a commemorative watch, a CD-ROM copy of ''Webster's Third New International Dictionary'' and a $20 gift certificate from Franklin Electronic Publishers. Bill Cahir is Washington , D.C., correspondent for The Express-Times. He can be reached at 202-383-7848 or by e-mail at bill.cahir@newhouse.com. © 2006 The Express-Times. Used with permission.