Dayton 13-year-old just misses finals at Scripps National Spelling Bee

Morgan Bumgardner came as close as anyone could possibly come to advancing to the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals without making it.

Bumgardner, a 13-year-old eighth grader at Dayton Intermediate School, missed the finals by one spot as he placed 51st in the National Spelling Bee which was held this past week in Washington, D.C. The top 50 competitors advanced to the finals.

It was a big improvement, though, for Bumgardner, who was competing in the National Spelling Bee for the second straight year. Bumgardner mispelled his first word in last year’s competition.

But this year Bumgardner spelled both of his words correctly. In the first round he spelled lexigraphy correctly and in the second round he spelled elation correctly.

The 50 finalists were determined by their scores after the first two rounds of spelling and a preliminary test. Based on the scores after the first two rounds of spelling and the preliminary test Bumgardner just missed the finals.