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Durham 12-year-old girl to compete in Scripps National Spelling Bee

Twelve-year-old Hanna Closs is the champion of the ninth annual Duke University Regional Spelling Bee. She claimed the title Saturday morning at Riverside High School in Durham, spelling ornithofauna.

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Durham 12-year-old girl to compete in Scripps National Spelling Bee
By
Hannah Webster
, WRAL.com editor

Twelve-year-old Hanna Closs is the champion of the ninth annual Duke University Regional Spelling Bee. She claimed the title Saturday morning at Riverside High School in Durham, spelling ornithofauna.

She will move forward to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., starting May 27.

Around 60 spellers competed in the bee, ages 8 to 14, representing public, private, charter and home schools from Durham and Orange counties.

The competition lasted 11 rounds.

Closs is an eighth grader at Lucas Middle School in Durham.

Her older sister, Bettie Closs, is a three-time Duke University Regional Spelling Bee champion, winning in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

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