LOS ANGELES (CNS) — An eighth-grader who attends McAuliffe Middle School in Los Alamitos was eliminated in the fourth round of the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee Wednesday, misspelling lepper, a horse skilled in jumping.

Jason Khan spelled it leper.

Jason was among the 88 spellers from the original field of 234 competing in the quarterfinals.

Jason advanced to the quarterfinals by correctly spelling two words and giving the right answer to a multiple-choice word meaning question for a third Tuesday.

Jason began the competition at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, by correctly spelling threnody, a poem or song of mourning or lamentation.

In the second round, he correctly answered the multiple-choice word meaning question, “What does it mean to upbraid?” selecting, “reprimand severely.”

Jason correctly spelled diffident, an adjective meaning lacking confidence in one’s self, in the third round.

The 14-year-old qualified for the national bee by winning the Orange County Spelling Bee on March 5. His winning word was ankh, a cross with a top loop, an ancient Egyptian symbol of life.

This was Jason’s only national bee because it is limited to students in eighth grade or below.

An Orange County speller has never won the national bee.

The lone Los Angeles County speller, Justin Tran, a seventh-grader at Chaparral Middle School in Diamond Bar, was eliminated in the first round when he misspelled catjang, a plant in the pea family native to Africa, spelling it katjang.

Justin was among 69 spellers eliminated in the first round.