Erin Howard of Huntsville qualified for the National Spelling Bee finals Wednesday, the only one of four eligible Alabama students to advance.

Howard, an eighth-grader at Mountain Gap School, has finished in the top 10 of the spelling bee the past two years.

Three other Alabama students spelled their words correctly in the second and third rounds but did not score high enough on a first-round written test to make the finals.

The National Spelling Bee began Monday with 565 participants and the list had been trimmed to 369 students after the second and third rounds of spelling.

The finals have no more than 50 students while 369 students spelled their words correctly.

Alabama students who were eligible for the finals but did not advance were Saisurya Lakkimsetti, a fourth-grader from Montgomery; Violetta Rohr, a fifth-grader from Vestavia Hills and Taj Patel, an eighth-grader from Andalusia.

A fifth Alabama student, Cullman sixth-grader Josiah Carter Daily, was eliminated when he misspelled a word in the third round.

Part 1 of the finals begins at 9 a.m. Thursday and will be televised on ESPN2. The championship rounds begin Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.