Elizabeth, a Beckley seventh-grader, spelled her words correctly in rounds two and three Wednesday but her overall score was too low to advance. Only 41 of the 275 spellers that started the competition will move on.

Spellers completed round one, a 25-word written test, on Tuesday. Correct spellings were worth one point each.

On Wednesday, contestants spelled one word each in rounds two and three, the bee's first oral rounds. Correct spellings were worth three points each. Elizabeth aced "rapport" and "urticant" in those rounds.

Spellers needed 29 points to make the semifinals. That left little room for error -- they had to get a near-perfect score on the written test and spell both words correctly in rounds two and three.

Elizabeth's mother, Rosemary, blinked back tears after bee director Paige Kimble announced the semifinalists.

"I'm really so proud of her. I'm just so proud," Rosemary said.

"It's tougher than when I was here," said big brother Matthew Koh, the Gazette-Mail's representative at 2008's national bee.

He said more spellers reached the semifinal rounds then and the cut score wasn't as high. Matthew said he's also proud of Elizabeth.

"It takes a lot just to come here," he said.

Elizabeth said Tuesday's written test was very difficult. "They had a lot of confusing words," she said.

Though visibly upset, Elizabeth remained chipper.

"I'm just grateful to be here, to get this opportunity," she said.

She said she plans to compete in her school spelling bee next year and hopes to return to the Gazette-Mail Regional Spelling Bee and the Scripps National Bee.

None of West Virginia's five spellers reached the semifinal rounds.

Savannah Aldridge, 13, of Bridgeport, and Ksheeraja Sriram, 12, of Morgantown, both spelled their round two and three words correctly.

Yagna Deep Vudathu, 13, of Martinsburg, missed his round two word, "comminution," a word for the process where materials are broken down into small particles. He spelled it "cominution." Yagna correctly spelled his round three word, "ramate."

Connor Moore, 11, of Wheeling, spelled "fraulein" correctly in round two. He misspelled "rasorial," meaning "scratching the ground for food like a chicken or other domestic fowl," in round three. Connor spelled it "rascorial."

Rounds two and three streamed live on ESPN3.com.

The bee's semifinal rounds will begin at 10 a.m. today and will be shown on ESPN. The championship finals also will be shown on ESPN starting at 8:30 p.m. today.

The bee champion will receive $30,000 in cash, an engraved trophy, a $2,500 U.S. savings bond and a complete Merriam-Webster reference library, among other prizes.

All spellers who participate in the preliminary rounds will receive a $100 VISA gift card. Spellers who make it to the semifinal rounds will receive a $500 gift card.

Elizabeth placed first in the 2011 Gazette-Mail Regional Spelling Bee in March. Her prizes included an all-expense-paid, weeklong trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee. She also won a $2,500 SMART529 savings account for college.

The March 12 regional bee was co-sponsored by the West Virginia Housing Development Fund and West Virginia American Water. It was televised on MyZtv by WSAZ.

Reach Zack Harold at zack.har...@dailymail.com or 304-348-7939.