OUT OF THE RUNNING — Kaden Haddox, a sixth grader from Indian Creek Middle School, reacts after spelling his preliminary round word correctly Tuesday as part of the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Haddox, 12, was eliminated from the competition after the third-round written portion of the Bee. -- Associated Press

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — A local youth who was among 243 students from throughout the U.S. and four countries to advance to the Scripps National Bee has been eliminated from the prestigious competition.

Kaden Haddox, a sixth grader at Indian Creek Middle School, is among more than half of the event’s competitors who didn’t go on to the quarterfinals portion of the event on Wednesday.

Officials with the national bee have stated the preliminary rounds serve to eliminate all but about 100 of the participating youth, who come from all 50 states, several U.S. territories and Department of Defense schools and four other countries.

One of the hurdles faced by Haddox and other contestants was a test Tuesday in which all were challenged to correctly spell 28 words and provide the correct definitions for 12 other words.

The son of Nick and Jessica Haddox of Steubenville, he had advanced to the national bee after emerging the winner of the Jefferson-Harrison Regional Spelling Bee presented by the Herald-Star and organized by the Jefferson County Educational Service Center on March 8.

He will remain in the Washington, D.C. area throughout the week, joining all other Scripps National Bee contestants for a trolley tour of the nation’s capital on Friday and other activities.

Set for 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. today, the finals portion of the bee will be aired live on the Ion television network and streamed live on Bounce XL and spellingbee.com.