Pageant News Bureau - Miss Teen USA 2006, Page 3

Barely two weeks after Miss Universe, it's time for Miss Teen USA. Just as some fans are catching their breath, here we go again. Luckily, the surroundings are familiar, because the teen pageant is back in beautiful Palm Springs. If you have to be in the desert on Aug. 15, trust us, Palm Springs is the place.

We at PNB didn't want to give you pageant overload, but we can't let this wonderful spectacle go by while we recharge our batteries. Wait! Here come the gowns, the swimsuits, the girls. We're back at full power.

Kansas contender Gentry Miller

Predictions (by somebody else)

Pageant results are always unpredictable, and they're a mystery to us at PNB. But sometimes analysts perceive patterns and try to forecast trends. One such prediction this year has the Miss Teen USA title going to a girl from "the heartland."

That takes in a lot of territory and leaves the pundits with plenty of wiggle room. But as we understand geography, the girls who most qualify as "heartland" competitors are Missouri's Breanna Huellinghorst, Oklahoma's Morgan Woolard, Kansas contender Gentry Miller and Nebraska's Danielle Zuroski.

From left: Oklahoma's Morgan Woolard, Missouri's Breanna Huellinghorst and Nebraska's Danielle Zuroski
Photos courtesy of Miss Universe L.P., LLLP

Of course, if they're talking about the "heartland" of New England or the "heartland" of Alaska ...

While the sun shines

Miss Teen USA 2006 will be crowned in Palm Springs, Calif., probably under a clear desert sky. But just a year ago the nation's Gulf Coast was being battered by storm after storm. The worst was Hurricane Katrina, which drove thousands of people out of the state of Louisiana. Many have not yet returned. Some will never return.

Kelsey Lawson, Miss Louisiana Teen USA, has a far-flung cheering section this year. So if you're in a Boston restaurant, a Miami bar or a Seattle salon while you're watching Miss Teen USA, don't get defensive if someone in the crowd is pulling hard for the girl from the Pelican State. Maybe it's a moment of joy in a hard year.

Kelsey Lawson, Miss Louisiana Teen USA
Photo courtesy of Miss Universe L.P., LLLP

Raegan Raulston, Miss Mississippi Teen USA
Photo courtesy of Raegan Raulston

Happy and ready

Raegan Raulston wants to succeed in show business -- "dancing, Broadway, movies, a record deal." She's not picky as long as there's fun and fame.

She's closer than to her goal than ever. For years, she did minor pageants with moderate success. Then she won the Miss Mississippi Teen USA crown, "my first big one," and now she could win one that's much bigger.

She' has modeled in much of the Eastern U.S., including New York, but her hopes of a gig in Tokyo fell through, and she had "never been near the West Coast." Until now. She's in one of California's toniest spots, and people around the world are hearing about her.

Ms. Raulston is that bewitching mix of small-town sweetheart and uptown sophisticate. She has danced at the Liberty Bowl and the Sugar Bowl, but her favorite personality is the cosmopolitan actress Natalie Portman. "She made an entertainment career and also went to Harvard," Ms. Raulston explains.

Guess who else is going places?

Having a super time

Samantha Casey has her head together. She was first runner-up to Miss Virginia Teen USA two years in a row, and that sort of golden heartbreak can shake a competitor's confidence. But she shrugged off the thought of a jinx and finally won it.

She lives in Northern Virginia, one of the most historic slices of America and a center of government and industry. She's what her mother calls a "military brat," the daughter of a former career Air Force pilot. (For non-American readers, "military brat" is a term of endearment.)

Photo courtesy of Samantha Casey

Because the family was military, Ms. Casey has lived in many parts of America and the world, and she didn't always have time to put down roots. But she has been an outstanding high school student and basketball star who received a special tribute from her school when she graduated.

Ms. Casey has also done a lot of modeling, and ... But wait. Sometimes a girl sounds so good on paper that it's easier to talk about the facts than the real person. So suffice it to say that Samantha Casey is a girl you'd love to have as a friend.

Jessica Bre Powell, Miss California Teen USA
Photo courtesy of Miss Universe L.P., LLLP

California doll

Jessica Bre Powell has been the busiest girl in the Golden State these past few months. But she has always had time for a friendly hello to PNB, and even to joke around a bit.

If you think Californians are full of themselves, this girl will change your mind. She's working hard to be a winner, but she's also aware that the other girls are on her turf, and she wants them to have a good time.

We keep forgetting to ask her what the "Bre" is all about. She doesn't mind being called just Jessica Powell. Of that we're certain.

The countess from the Plains

Alexandra Hoffman looks like royalty. It's not simply that she looks like a beauty queen, because she is after all Miss South Dakota Teen USA. But she has the elegance, the grace, the class of a woman born in a palace. She makes us think of the Audrey Hepburn movie when the princess starts down the long staircase and everyone in the ballroom falls silent to watch her. (Wasn't it Audrey Hepburn?)

Ms. Hoffman is not just regal in her appearance. She's gracious and ladylike. That's the way real royalty behaves. She has gone out of her way to be kind and considerate to PNB. If we met her in a receiving line, we would be tempted to kiss her hand. But she would be too modest to allow it.

Alexandra Hoffman, Miss South Dakota Teen USA
Photo courtesy of Miss Universe L.P., LLLP

Blair Griffith, Miss Colorado Teen USA
Photo courtesy of Blair Griffith

A heart full of memories

Blair Griffith used to watch the Miss Teen USA Pageant with her father. They talked about how someday she would be competing for the crown, and he would be in the audience applauding.

Part of that dream didn't come true. Her dad died before she could win the Miss Colorado Teen USA title. But what she has accomplished is precious to her. She has her father's memory to give her inspiration as she steps out on the stage in Palm Springs.

Ms. Griffith calls herself "just a girl from the foothills," but that's a modest label. The foothills of Colorado are lovely enough to bring you to tears. And so is she.

But as much as she loves the West, she wouldn't mind spending a year in New York as Miss Teen USA. "My dad was originally from New York," she says. That means a lot.

Young and in a hurry

If you think Brittany Sharp is a fresh face, you're right. When she was crowned Miss Georgia Teen USA, she was only 14 (the youngest winner in Peach State history) and had no previous pageant experience. There's still a bit of schoolgirl excitement in her voice about how far she has come.

"I was kind of hesitant about being in pageants," she recalls. "I decided to do it, and I have no regrets." Beating out experienced high school seniors on her first try did a lot to bolster her confidence, she admits.

But as young as she is, she has the look of a beautiful woman. Maybe it's her extensive modeling experience, or a gift from nature, or some kind of indefinable magic, but she has the look.

Brittany Sharp, Miss Georgia Teen USA
Photo courtesy of Miss Universe L.P., LLLP

Her ambition is to be a broadcast journalist, but she's got a few years to change her mind. She loves the University of Georgia, which she plans to attend eventually. We asked about the school's vaunted football team, and we found that she's more than just a gridiron fan.

"I like to watch AND play football," she says. "I can pass, and I can cheer." Yes, she's a cheerleader, too.

Katie Blair, Miss Montana Teen USA
Photo courtesy of Miss Universe L.P., LLLP

Montana magic

Katie Blair went north and made good. She moved with her family from Texas to Montana a few years ago. Maybe it was the Big Sky, but pageant lightning struck. Now she's a beauty queen.

She's one of the best traveled contestants in the competition. "I've been in almost every state," she says, "and in Europe and Mexico." And her traveling is not over. When she returns from Palm Springs, she'll be getting ready for college, and it won't be in Texas or Montana.

Unlike many of her rivals, Ms. Blair is not a model, but she's no stranger to the glamour business. She once planned a career as a designer, and though she now leans toward marketing and advertising, she's savvy about fashion. She talked to us with remarkable insight about Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein.

When we asked her which person in the pageant world she admires most, she replied, "Allie LaForce." She wasn't kidding or trying to curry favor. Katie Blair is just a young woman who knows where she' wants to go.

More on Miss Teen USA 2006

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