CAPE GIRL WINS TENTH IN STATE SPELLING BEE

Three hours into the state spelling bee championships, Cape Girardeau seventh-grader Rebecca Thomas missed "rescissible," putting her out of the competition. Her performance earned her 10th place honors in the bee.

Thomas, a student at L.J. Schultz Middle School, was among 65 students who participated in the 67th annual Scripts-Howard National Spelling Bee Saturday at the St. Louis Art Museum.

Thousands of students in an 80-county area of Missouri and Illinois participated in the first round of the spelling bee. More than 933 school champions went on to compete in district finals.

Those winners competed Saturday for the state championship. Capturing the state title was Matt Ryan of Manchester. He will advance to the national spelling bee to be held in May in Washington D.C.

A half-hour special presentation of the spelling bee will air March 26 on KSDK-TV in St. Louis at 10 a.m.

Thomas is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Chris Thomas of Cape Girardeau.