Eighty-five students in third through eighth grades from 75 counties took the stage at 9  this morning for the 2013 Sunflower Spelling Bee in Hays.

This is the first time Hays has hosted the event.  The Sunflower region includes all of Kansas except 30 eastern counties.

Today’s winner will advance to the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., the last week of May.

The Ellis County representative is Sally Lushbough, a Hays Middle School 8th grader.

The bee, co-sponsored by the Hays Daily News, AT&T and Sunflower Electric, is underway in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center at Fort Hays State University.