Lower Dauphin Middle School eighth-grader Owen Hess outlasted 19 classmates in a marathon two-hour spelling bee to repeat as school champion on Dec. 1.

Owen, the son of Brandon and Julie Hess, went head-to-head with eventual runner-up Melodee Arredondo-Sandoval for eight championship rounds before he won the bee with the word "prosecution." He had two other opportunities to win earlier but misspelled "stodgy" and "indices" - two words he said he had never heard before the bee. Melodee is the daughter of Bladimir and Diamantina Arredondo and is also an eighth-grader.

To reach the championship round, Owen and Melodee first competed in 16 rounds of spelling. The first 13 rounds consisted of words from a study list, which narrowed the field to eight. The pronouncer then switched to a list of unfamiliar words for three additional rounds to narrow the competition further to the two finalists. Eighth-grader Athena Parelis and sixth-grader Annabelle Mattson tied for third place with Athena winning in a one-round spell-off.

In early spring, Owen, Melodee, Athena and Annabelle will take the WITF Written Spelling Bee, which consists of a written test and vocabulary test. The top 37 test-takers will participate in the WITF Grand Championship Spelling Bee, an oral spelldown held at the WITF Public Media Center in March with highlights and featured stories available on YouTube and other digital platforms. The winner from the WITF Grand Championship Spelling Bee will qualify to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C., at the end of May or in early June.