The preliminary round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is over and five of Missouri’s seven participants have advanced to spell more complicated words.

Moving on to Wednesday’s quarterfinals round are Ananya Aggarwal of Columbia, Beckett Griffin of Lee’s Summit, Scott Tingle of Hornersville, Kunal Patel of Branson, and Khushbu Dahal of St. Charles.

Natalie Linthicum of Jameson and William Henley of Pleasant Hill did not advance.

The competition began Tuesday with 242 spellers and ended with 183 moving on to the next phase in National Harbor, Maryland.

The bee has students from all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. Spellers also will represent five countries outside the U.S.: the Bahamas, Canada, Ghana, Kuwait and Nigeria.

According to the Bee, 70% of the 243 spellers attend public schools, 28% attend private/charter/parochial schools, and 2% are home schooled.

Two Missouri participants are returning for their second consecutive national bee appearance – Branson’s Kunal Patel and Hornersville’s Scott Tingle. Patel tied in 2024 for 46th place. Tingle tied in 2024 for 192nd place.

Wednesday’s quarterfinals round is 7 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. CST. The semifinals round is scheduled for Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. CST.

The bee will be broadcast on ION platforms. Missourinet will have updates throughout the competition.