A second year of competition among nearly 300 elite spellers proved to be more of a blessing and joy for Morgan Brown.

Morgan failed to advance beyond the third round of the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., incorrectly spelling “thesmothete” — which refers to a lawmaker or legislator. She represented Northwest Missouri in the bee and was sponsored by the News-Press.

She completed an initial written exam Tuesday and then succeeded in her first verbal answer of the day by spelling “hitherto” amid fellow competitors from the United States, Canada and China. The 293 spellers constituted the largest-ever number of entrants for the bee.

Jim Brown told the News-Press his daughter was disappointed by the outcome but was still proud of her effort.

“She’s been studying for a few minutes to a few hours a day since the Northwest regional,” he said. “She’s been doing her best.”

Morgan said she intends to sit in the audience to watch today’s semifinals and finals and plans to root for Kavya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kan.

Morgan represented the region at the 2008 bee after winning the Northwest Missouri competition, although she was almost eliminated prior to the national event because of a paperwork error. She was eventually allowed to compete.

“I thought it went well,” she said of the experience. “I liked it a lot this year.”

A total of 41 semifinalists have advanced to the bee’s next round, which will air today on ESPN beginning at 9 a.m. The championship finalists will compete onstage starting at 7 p.m.

Ray Scherer can be reached at rscherer@npgco.com.