WASHINGTON, D.C. - Former Decatur resident and Herald & Review speller Greg Touney keeps coming back to the Scripps National Spelling Bee every year. He can't get enough of its sesquipedalian fun.

"I've made really good friendships with a lot of people who are involved in the bee and their permanent staff, or officials or staff members my age," Touney said. "It's really good to see them. It's just one week out of 52 that we have great friendships."

Touney tied for ninth place in the bee's final round in 1999. He still remembers the word on which he was eliminated.

"The word I missed was 'rayonnant,' " he said. "And it's R-A-Y-O-N-N-A-N-T, and it means something depicted with rays darting forth. ¦ I put a U instead of the O. I messed up the dreaded schwa sound, which is probably the archenemy of all spellers."

Touney has come across the word once since then. He decided to incorporate it in a college class presentation as an inside joke to himself, he said. The bee seems more difficult to Touney these days - something he attributes in part to the increased media exposure it's gotten over the years.

Prior to this year, Touney worked on the bee's college crew, but after graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he acquired a staff role. This year, he's working about 40 hours at the bee's media desk.

"It's good to be a part of the experience behind the scenes, you know, and see how the bee is run," he said. "And it's nice when you see the kids having a really good time and trying to be a part of that."

Touney now works for CBS College Sports Network as an editor for its online division and plans to attend Indiana University School of Law in the fall. The bee helped instill good qualities in him, he said, and he continues to see the same result in the spellers who come through each year.

"You know, you can just see how hardworking and dedicated a lot of them are," Touney said of the contestants. "So many of them spend hours a week studying, so in that respect, they haven't changed a whole lot."

Annie Getsinger can be reached at agetsinger@herald-review.com or 421-6968.