Miss Alabama Amanda Tapley

Birmingham, Alabama
Age: 20
Education:Briar Wood High School Samford University
Platform Issue: Music For A Cure:Research for Pediatric Illnesses
Scholastic Ambition: To obtain a degree in medicine
Talent: Piano
Scholastic Honors: 2008 Winner - Concerto - Aria Competition; Beeson Exceptional Scholar; School of Performing Arts Outstanding Freshman Music Major
Career Ambition: To pursue a career as a Pediatric Oncologist
Local Competition Sponsor: Miss Samford University

Miss Alaska Stephany Jeffers

Anchorage, Alaska
Age: 23
Education:Grace Christian High School Whitworth College
Platform Issue: Yes, I Can: Improv to Improve
Scholastic Ambition: To obtain a Doctorate degree in Botany
Talent: Vocal
Scholastic Honors: Magna Cum Laude Graduate; Five-year MAO Academic Award Winner; High School Valedictorian
Career Ambition: To become a botanical researcher
Local Competition Sponsor: Miss Birchwood Pageant

Miss Arizona Erin Brittany Nurss

Sierra Vista, Arizona
Age: 23
Education:Buena High School University of Arizona University of Arizona College of Public Health
Platform Issue: Healthy Habits: Promoting Health and Wellness in Youth
Scholastic Ambition: To obtain a Master's Degree in Public Health
Talent: Lyrical Dance
Scholastic Honors: Cum Laude Graduate; Outstanding Senior for UA Nutrition Department; Southern Arizona Dietetic Association Outstanding Graduate
Career Ambition: To work as a Public Health Nutritionist
Local Competition Sponsor: Miss Tucson Valley

Miss Arkansas Ashlen Batson

Newark, Arkansas
Age: 21
Education: Newark High School University of Central Arkansas
Platform Issue: Afterschool Alliance: Encouraging Youth Involvement in Extracurricular Activities
Scholastic Ambition: To obtain a Doctorate degree in Speech Pathology
Talent: Flute
Scholastic Honors: Martha Anderson Scholarship; Honors College; Presidential Scholars List
Career Ambition: To become a Speech Pathologist
Local Competition Sponsor: Miss Spirit of Arkan

Miss Indiana Katie Stam & Miss Delaware Galen Giaccone

Preliminary Night One Swimsuit Winner Miss Indiana Katie Stam

Preliminary Night One Talent Winner Miss Delaware Galen Giaccone

Miss North Carolina

Miss Illinois

Miss Louisiana

Miss Florida

Miss North Dakota

Swimsuit Winner - Miss Mississippi Christine Kozlowski & Talent Winner - Miss Georgia Chasity Hardman

Preliminary Night Two Talent Winner - Miss Georgia Chasity Hardman


Preliminary Night Two Swimsuit Winner - Miss Mississippi Christine Kozlowski

Talent Winner - Miss Vermont Ashley Wheeler and

Swimsuit Winner

Miss New York Leigh-Taylor Smith

Preliminary Night Three Swimsuit Winner - Miss New York Leigh-Taylor Smith

Preliminary Night Three Talent Winner - Miss Vermont Ashley Wheeler

Miss Rhode Island

Miss Minnesota

Miss Maryland

Miss California

Miss Arkansas

Miss Indiana Katie Stam, left, with Jackie Geist react as Stam is announced the winner of Miss America 2009 at Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2009.

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Miss America 2009 Results

Miss America 2009: Miss Indiana Katie Stam

1st Alternate : Miss Georgia Chasity Hardman

2nd Alternate : Miss Iowa Olivia Myers

3rd Alternate : Miss New York Leigh-Taylor Smith

4th Alternate : Miss Florida Sierra Minott

Top 7 (In random order- competed in on stage question)
Miss New York - Leigh Taylor Smith
Miss California - Jackie Geist
Miss Georgia - Chasity Hardman
Miss Tennessee - Ellen Carrington
Miss Indiana - Katie Stam
Miss Iowa - Olivia Myers
Miss Florida - Sierra Minott

Top 10 (In random order - competed in talent)
Miss DC - Katie Marie Grinold
Miss Georgia - Chasity Hardman
Miss New York - Leigh Taylor Smith
Miss Hawaii - Nicole Fox
Miss Indiana - Katie Stam
Miss Florida - Sierra Minott
Miss Tennessee - Ellen Carrington
Miss California - Jackie Geist
Miss Iowa - Olivia Myers
Miss Michigan - Ashlee Baracy

Top 12 (In random order- competed in evening gown)
Miss Georgia - Chasity Hardman
Miss Indiana - Katie Stam
Miss Michigan - Ashlee Baracy
Miss Arkansas - Ashlen Batson
Miss Hawaii - Nicole Fox
Miss DC - Katie Marie Grinold
Miss Iowa - Olivia Myers
Miss New York - Leigh Taylor Smith
Miss California - Jackie Geist
Miss Florida - Sierra Minott
Miss Kentucky - Emily Cox
Miss Tennessee - Ellen Carrington

Top 15 (In random order - competed in swimsuit)
Miss South Dakota - Alexandra Hoffman
Miss Georgia - Chasity Hardman
Miss Indiana - Katie Stam
Miss Alabama - Amanda Tapley
Miss Michigan - Ashlee Baracy
Miss Delaware - Galen Giaccone
Miss Arkansas - Ashlen Batson
Miss Hawaii - Nicole Fox
Miss DC - Katie Marie Grinold
Miss Iowa - Olivia Myers
Miss New York - Leigh Taylor Smith
Miss California - Jackie Geist
Miss Florida - Sierra Minott
Miss Kentucky - Emily Cox
Miss Tennessee - Ellen Carrington

Weymouth woman crowned Miss Massachusetts USA

By Ed Baker
Mon Dec 01, 2008, 04:20 PM EST Weymouth -

Alison Cronin had no desire to compete in a beauty pageant while she was growing up in Weymouth.“I did not wear dresses until I was in fifth grade,” said Alison, 21, who became Miss Massachusetts USA during a recent pageant in Boston. “If you asked me back then about wanting to be in a beauty pageant, I was would have said, gross! I did not own a Barbie doll, and I liked rolling around in the dirt and climbing trees.”Alison’s desire to compete in a beauty contest developed while she was in middle school. “When I was in middle school, I would plan to watch TV the night the Miss USA pageant was on,” she said. “I would try to guess who would be the top 10 finalists. I never thought I’d be competing in it.”Alison’s interest in the pageant encouraged her to compete and win the Miss Teen Massachusetts USA crown in 2005, the year she graduated from Weymouth High School. “I had a lot of fun while competing in that program,” she said.Since then Alison has been busy completing her studies as a communications major at New York University“I’m finishing my courses a semester early,” she said. “That is exciting.”Alison plans to spend the next several months preparing for the upcoming Miss USA pageant in Las Vegas on April 19, 2009.“The contest will be held two days before my 22 birthday,” she said. “I have a lot of things to do in preparation.”Some of the tasks Alison must complete include selecting a wardrobe and keeping herself physically fit.“I’ll have to select an evening gown and follow a workout regimen,” she said. “I have to work with an interview coach as well. There are a lot of things you have to do prepare for the contest.”Alison had to complete a preliminary competition and swimsuit competition to qualify as a finalist for Miss Massachusetts USA.“There was a preliminary competition that involved wearing an evening gown,” she said. “The next day there was a swimsuit competition.”The judges at both venues collectively reduced the amount of contestants to five finalists that included Alison, all of whom completed onstage interviews.“It was a good showcase to tell people who you are, and what you stand for,” Alison said. “I met a lot of really great girls from around the state that have all accomplished so much and are quite educated. The event is a beauty pageant, but it is not all about beauty. The pageant showcases confident women who are competing for the same crown.”Alison said she sought the Miss Massachusetts USA title to help support charities throughout the state.“I’m excited,” she said. “Getting the title is a good opportunity to serve Massachusetts by working with a lot of charities.”Helping people in need seems to be natural for AlisonShe realized the importance of putting the needs of others first from her mother Michele, a widow, and nursing home administrator at Vernon Hall in Cambridge.“She used to have us come to the nursing home to visit the residents who did not get a lot of visitors,” Alison said. “Her example of helping people in need has been reinforced to us.”Michele’s example is especially compelling for Alison because her father died when she was 13.“My mother raised my brother Don and I on her own,” she said. “Don is an emergency room nurse at a hospital in New York City and he has done quite well for himself. I consider Don one of my role models.”Alison said people in need have hopes and goals that are common to all humanity and this reality was especially evident when she visited Ghana, a West Africa nation, with some of her New York University classmates last year.“We were involved in community service and research while over there,” Alison said. “I got to talk with a lot of people. The project I did was to learn how the people in Ghana define themselves in the context of the world, and the African continent. It was a very big eye-opening trip.”She visited a Ghanaian orphanage and realized the youngsters share the same dreams of succeeding like young people in the U.S. have.“The kids in the orphanage have huge dreams and goals,” Alison said. “I realized that I had the tools to reach them. They really inspired me.”Alison said she hopes to inspire people to succeed and help those in need by winning the Miss USA crown in April.“I’m glad I can be a positive role model for girls in Weymouth, and the South Shore, and in Massachusetts,” she said.Article and picture courtesy of Wicked Local Weymouth

Miss USA 1972 was held at Cerromar Beach Hotel in Dorado, (Puerto Rico), on May 20, 1972. Tanya Wilson of Hawaii was crowned by outgoing titleholder Michele McDonald of Pennsylvania.

The results were :

Miss USA 1972: Tanya Wilson (Miss Hawaii)
1st runner-up: Alberta Philips(Miss New York)
2nd runner-up: Kim Christina Hobson (Miss California)
3rd runner-up: Coni Ensor(Miss Florida)
4th runner-up: Kathleen Ann Kehlmier(Miss Ohio)

Left to Right 4th RU Margaret-Ann Carter, 2nd RU Courtney Turner 3rd RU Hillary Bradshaw, 1st RU Tyler Smith, and Mary Helen Caver, Miss SCTUSA 2009

[Above: Allie Krucek crowns the new Miss Clayland, Karissa Martin.]

I've been away for a few days, first to my parents and then to a cabin in Amish country near Mansfield where Loren was hunting. (He got his first buck with a bow!) It was so nice to be away… where cell phones barely work and there’s no internet! From my hometown where every farmer is in the field picking corn, including my 89 year old grandpa, to the beautiful rolling hills and curvy roads of mid-Ohio…

Anyway, here are the pictures you've probably already seen on other sites.

[Below left L-R: April O'Brien, Community Service winner Megan Wombacker, Miss Clayland '06 Allie Krucek, Miss Clayland '07 Karissa Martin, 1st RU and Talent winner Erica Gelhaus, Ashley Bowman, Interview winner Amy Allen and Grace Caudill. Right: Allie says farewell.]

[Above left: Miss Clayland '06 Allie Krucek, Miss Clayland '07 Karissa Martin and 1st RU Erica Gelhaus; right: Miss Lake Festival Heather Waterman, Miss Ohio Valley Brandi Herceg, Miss North East Ohio Jenna Wilson and Miss Open City Zephylia Khooblall.] Above photos by Paul Krajnyak.



These last two are from Amy Allen.

Check out pictures of the entire pageant HERE