Round 13 was the lucky round for L.J. Schultz speller Christina Van Nostrand. She was one of three finalists in the district spelling bee held Saturday.

A record number of 38 spellers from Southeast Missouri participated in the bee at Sikeston Middle School. The number of spellers allows the district to send three finalists to state contest. No spell-off was held among the top three finishers.

The state spelling bee, sponsored by the St. Louis Post Dispatch, is set for March 18 at the St. Louis Art Museum.

The winner there advances to national spelling bee in Washington, D.C. in May as part of Scripts-Howard national spelling bee.

Van Nostrand is a former Clippard Elementary School student and the daughter of Tom and Pat Martin of Cape Girardeau. She was the top seventh-grade speller in the bee.

Other finalists are Carrie McMillen, a Sikeston eighth-grader, and Swaroop Madduri, a Poplar Bluff eighth-grader.