Miss Florida won the swimsuit competition and Miss Louisiana claimed the talent portion of the second night preliminaries Wednesday at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J.
Miss Florida won the swimsuit competition and Miss Louisiana claimed the talent portion of the second night preliminaries Wednesday at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J.
Katherine Fechtel, Miss Florida, won the swimsuit portion of the evening, and April Nelson, Miss Louisiana, won the talent portion with a rendition of “Climb Every Mountain” from the musical “The Sound Of Music.”
On Tuesday night, Miss South Carolina Daja Dial won the swimsuit competition, and Miss Iowa Taylor Wiebers won the talent portion. The third and final round of preliminaries will be held Thursday evening.
The new Miss America will be crowned in Sunday night’s nationally televised finale.
Contestants from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are vying for the crown. The U.S. Virgin islands, which competed last year, could not field the required minimum number of entrants this year, pageant officials said. It is eligible for future competitions.
Preliminary competition in talent, interviews, evening wear and swimsuit competition will run through Thursday.
Read more about Miss Hawaii Jeanne Kapela, who hails from Captain Cook, by clicking here.
Based on scoring during the preliminary rounds, the top 15 contestants are selected to compete in the final round. From there, competitions gradually narrow the field to the top five competitors. A final ballot determines the actual winner.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.