Pageant News Bureau - Miss USA 2004

The dudes adore Molly Flynn

Does the pure air of Montana make a girl both beautiful and wise? Or is it the clear Rocky Mountain water? (Some of our city-bred PNB staffers thought that it might be the "buffalo chips." We had to explain to them that you don't eat those chips.)

Anyway, something is definitely at work in the Big Sky Country, because Molly Flynn, Miss Montana USA, has that spark. She's so fair to look upon, and so amazing to talk to. We could chat with her till the cows come home.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.

And the cows will come home, because Ms. Flynn lives on a cattle ranch, not far from the headwaters of the Missouri River.

Dudes visit the spread every summer to experience the real West. (They call them "dudes," not "tenderfeet," she told us.)

"When the dudes look around, they say, 'You probably take all this beauty for granted,' but I don't." Ms. Flynn enjoys life, and she says she can find something to like about everything, even jumping into icy water in the dead of winter. (It was for charity.)

This is a hard girl to sum up. Objective in her philosophy, but a little romantic, too. Brainy but bold. And ready for her next big experience -- in L.A. "Whatever happens, bring it on! I'd rather burn out than fade away."

Molly Flynn, Miss Montana USA, and Autumn Muller, Miss Montana Teen USA

She once spent a year in the heart of South American pageant country and never had any interest in competing. When she came home, she was talked into giving it a try and became a pageant star. That's Molly Flynn, unpredictable. "I'm a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants girl."

Cleared for takeoff.

Non-pageant photos are courtesy of Molly Flynn. Pageant photo is courtesy of Carol Hirata.

Prescription for success

Jennifer Sherrill knew beauty queens when she was growing up in Arkansas. She even knew pageant directors. But she never competed. Friends told her she was beautiful, and she did some local modeling, but she steered clear of the contest world.

"I always believed the stereotypes" about pageants, Ms. Sherrill says. "I believed the horror stories."

Photos courtesy of Jennifer Sherrill

But her friends kept insisting she try it. (Wouldn't you?) And finally she gave in, just barely. "I signed up for my first pageant on the last day they were accepting applications," she says.

Now, after only a few years in the pageant world, she has two titles to her credit -- and no horror stories.

Her first title was Miss Teen Arkansas International. And though she's still in her teens, she has made the big leap to Miss Arkansas USA. Some of her rivals at Miss USA may be older, but in glamour and poise, she holds her own.

Ms. Sherrill is a fast-track kind of girl. She has always been inclined toward the medical field, and used to aspire to become a neurosurgeon.

But she wants marriage and a family before too many years have passed, so she has decided to become a pharmacist. She can finish her academic work faster.

But if she wins the Miss USA title, that will throw her off schedule, right? "That's different," she says. "That's the kind of change of plans I'd like." Everybody in Arkansas would like that, too.

A very smart Virginian

A few days before Christmas 2003, movie houses across America held midnight premieres of "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Role-playing fans were out in force, some dressed as wizards, some as elves, some as fair ladies of fantasy.

If you attended one of these premieres in Virginia, perhaps you glimpsed a young woman who looked like a real queen, not a role-player. Maybe it was your imagination. Maybe it was the dim lights.

Photo courtesy of Miss Virginia USA

Or maybe it was Kristi Glakas, Miss Virginia USA.

"Rings" has special appeal for Ms. Glakas. It's a film based on a 20th-century English classic, and she's majoring in 20th-century English literature at George Mason University.

Some people think literature is a "strange major" for a pageant star, Ms. Glakas admits. But don't get the idea that she's uncomfortable in the beauty game. She's an extrovert who has been singing and acting since childhood, and she got the pageant bug early.

"I begged my mom to let me get into pageants," she says, and her previous titles include Miss Virginia Teen USA. In fact, says Ms. Glakas, she switched from a major in broadcast journalism partly because there were so many other beauty queens in the same field. "I thought, 'I'm fitting the mold way too much.' " No need to worry about that as far as we can see.

In case you're wondering about the pronunciation of Ms. Glakas' last name, we decided to illustrate it in modern English verse:

We won't stop looking at Kristi Glakas
And you can't make us

OK, so it's not exactly Shakespeare. Or even Mother Goose. But sincerity should count for something.

Informal photos courtesy of Kristi Glakas