Whittell High School student part of Nevada group at Scripps National Spelling Bee

There are two from the Northern Nevada area who competed in this week's Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, Maryland.

Morgan Salvador, a 12-year-old 7th grader who attends George Whittell High School in Zephyr Cove was Speller No. 284, while Morgan Bumgardner, Speller 275, is a 13-year-old Dayton Intermediate School student. He is listed as being from Mound House. Both students were, unfortunately, eliminated as they worked their way into the finals.

Morgan Salvador, the Lake Tahoe student, was eliminated in the second round with the word "parietal," which is defined as of, relating to, attached to, or denoting the wall of the body or of a body cavity or hollow structure.

Morgan Bumgardner, the Dayton Intermediate student, made it through the third round, but according to rules he did not earn enough points on the preliminary test to get into the finals.

According to Morgan Salvador's bio, her favorite pastimes include vanquishing enemies with magic, eating and sleeping in until 2 p.m.

Meanwhile, when Morgan Bumgardner is not studying for the Bee, his bio says he likes to play video games, race go-karts and take care of his cats. Morgan previously competed in 2018 (tied for 453rd place).

There was a total of four students from Nevada. The two other competitors who did not advance to the finals were Dario Javier, 12, a 6th grader from Hyde Park Middle School in Las Vegas, and Lawrence Zhang, 13, an 8th grader, who attends the Meadows School in Las Vegas.

This year there were 562 spellers, ages 7 to 15, who made it to this week's spelling bee. The competition began Monday. The finals are Thursday and will be televised on ESPN. The Scripps National Spelling Bee takes place at The Gaylord in National Harbor, Maryland.

According to the Scripps Bee website, 11 million pupils participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee each year. The competitors come from all 50 states, several territories, and other countries including the Bahamas, Canada, Germany, Japan and South Korea.

Round One Spelling Words: 1. grok 2. dissilient 3. sciapodous 4. rucervine 5. epollicate 6. indiscerptible 7. sobornost 8. passim 9. avoirdupois 10. zuppa inglese 11. diel 12. Ljubljana.