Vindy speller does not remain in national bee

YOUNGSTOWN — Hannah Stang Gerdes, The Vindicator’s 2008 spelling bee champion, did not advance to the quarterfinals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. today.

Hannah spelled 15 of 25 words correctly in round one of the bee preliminaries but missed her onstage spelling of the word movimento, which means movement, in round two.

Her point total for the preliminaries was 15, below the 20-point cutoff to advance to the quarterfinals.