Formal pictures of the preliminary winners

Headin into Finals

I had many really great conversations with each of the girls over the course of the competition week. Some were filled with anticipation and laughter, some with apprehension, some with tears of joy, and some with tears of pain. It was definitely a roller-coaster ride but nonetheless, it was coming to a close and the day we had all been working for was finally upon us. I truly believed that it was going to be a good night heading into Finals and I was at peace. Whatever the outcome, none of them left anything to regret, they left it all on that stage and there was nothing else they could do but perform to their personal best and let the chips fall where they may. Important Lesson #1 in pageants: Judging is subjective.

Friday Night Special Awards

Andrea takes the Community Service Essay Award!

Jillian's Americanism win!

Preliminary Night Three: Awards

The final preliminary talent award goes to Contestant #27, Jenna Wilson

The final preliminary swimsuit award goes to Contestant #19, Kasey Wilson

The winners' wave

Miss Northeast Ohio, Miss Ohio 2007, and Miss Lake Erie

And the winners are...

Tonight's talent winner, Jenna Wilson did a nice job with her rendition of "I Am Changing". Manda had been asked fill in for her backstage person who was unfortunately delayed, and she made the most of the advice given. She really worked it out and performed her ass off! I've had the chance to speak with Jenna a few times over the years and she's just a delight to be around. She really does have a great platform story and is one of those contestants who works and works and works her platform, March of Dimes.

Friday night preliminary swimsuit winner, Kasey Wilson was completely fierce in her black velvet Jayme Shaw two-piece. It was a perfect choice and I've never seen her in better shape, ever. It was a most deserved award and I wasn't at all surprised that she was another double preliminary winner.

Preliminary Night Three

Tonight was Katie's night to shine elegantly onstage in the Evening Gown competition. I'm really happy with Katie's gown. Sherri Hill has some beautiful designs and this one is just such a great choice for her. She had a hard time choosing between a couple of colors and either would have been great, but I'm glad she chose to go with the red. Katie couldn't have done a better job. She looked amazing and just floated across the stage. Woohoo!

I was really anticipating talent tonight. I knew that both Andrea and Jillian knew their respective routines/songs, but the wait is always nervewracking. Andrea was up first and I knew if she came out and hit the first phrase well, she'd do great. And she did. I think it was probably the best she's ever performed "I want more" and I couldn't have been happier. She was really able to work her dress and choreography better so the visual was very pleasing and I felt she'd done exactly what she needed to do to get the job done. Jillian decided to go with her standby, "Drums", although she did change many of the moves from the original dance. Her new costume looked incredible and those 40 gross of stones shimmered and shined like crazy. She hit every mark and I really felt that she would get that opportunity to perform it again Saturday night.

The swimsuit competition followed and I knew Amy was a little nervous, but she's never looked better and I felt she was going to score well. We had Salwa re-do the blue detailing so it was secure and take it in a little and boy am I glad we did. Her suit fit perfectly and she had me convinced! She worked what the good Lord gave her and I couldn't have been more proud.

Katie got to finish up the night in OSQ. She came out looking stupendous in her Calvin Klein dress we found online, and got exactly the question we had anticipated. We had the chance to talk earlier in the day and come up with a couple little pearls to use and outstandingly enough, was able to use one of them to finish out her question. It was like butta! What a way to end the week! I felt like it really went out on a high note and I was convinced that the girls would be competing on Saturday night. Totally satisfying.

Preliminary Night Two: Awards

The preliminary talent award and winner of a $700 scholarship is Contestant #19, Kasey Wilson

Swimsuit preliminary award and winner of a $450 scholarship goes to Contestant #9, Karissa Martin

The winners' wave

And the winners are....

Miss Lake Erie, Kasey Wilson performed the opera aria "Chi il bel songo di Doretta", which just happened to be the aria that my dear friend Leslie sang to win her very first local title, Miss Greater Cleveland. I've always loved the song, and Kasey did a great job with it. I especially liked her choice of talent gown, which was one I had suggested earlier in the year to a friend as an evening gown possibility for Ohio USA. If I remember correctly, it also came in an ice blue tafetta. It really suited her and made the most of her long torso and height. Stunning!

Karissa did a great job again tonight and as a result is a double preliminary winner. I really liked her choice to change her swimsuit. It was a much more fun and updated choice and I loved the color. Glad to see that she's chosen to spray tan too. Very nice job!

Preliminary Night Two

Preliminary night two began with the 3rd flight competing in Evening Gown. Once again, Andrea and Jillian would be competing and wearing their stunning dresses. They both chose to wear the same gowns they wore last year, which I believe was wise. Wardrobes aren't cheap and as the saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Neither was "broke" by any means.

Talent followed with the second flight performing. Amy chose to sing "Summertime", the Fantasia Barrino version. She looked so awesome and she did a great job. The picture of her to the left captures Amy's beauty and ease onstage and it's one of my favorites of the night.


First flight competed in Swimsuit, and Katie looked like she was having such a blast! She worked it out and did her thing, and I was hoping she'd pulled out the prelim award, but I'll bet she was a very close second. Karissa looked great and deserved the win.


I was so pleased and amazed to watch these young women and realize how much they've grown through their years competing. It really is remarkable the effect this program can have on many contestants. It is the definition of what the MAO and MOSP is about. It's the journey, not necessarily the destination, and the growth and maturity one develops is invaluable.

One of my favorites of the night

What a great reaction!

Preliminary Night One: Awards

And the talent preliminary award goes to Contestant #9, Karissa Martin

The swimsuit preliminary award goes to Contestant #23, Andrea Andryscik

Giving a wave to the crowd

Miss Clayland, Miss Ohio, & Miss Greater Cleveland

And the winners are.....

Miss Clayland Karissa Martin performed "The Girl in 14G" originally sung most famously by Kristen Chenowith of "Wicked" fame. I really thought she did a great job with it and it suited her voice and vocal style quite well, in my opinion. She was entertaining, and looked great. It wasn't very surprising when she won the talent preliminary award. I was a little surprised to hear, though that the monetary amount for winning the preliminaries has gone down this year. In previous years, talent prelim netted a contestant $750 and swimsuit was $500. This year the winners are receiving $700 and $450, respectively. I know that $50 may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but it is just another indicator of the effect that the economy and lack of creativity in marketing is doing.

Preliminary Night One

The competition began with Evening Gown and it was Amy's first onstage competition. I have to admit that I got pretty choked up watching her realizing her dreams onstage. I could see her visually taking it all in and it was so special! Amy chose this silver sequined one shoulder gown by Tony Bowls because she really felt like it reflected her personality and the fit was beautiful too. It absolutely glittered on stage and she looked so elegant! Thanks go out to Madison House for locating the gown and to Salwa for the quick alterations.

Next in the lineup of events was Talent and Katie's introduction to state level competition. Blisters and asthma attack during practice aside, Katie came out and rocked it! She chose an urban style song called "Street Sounds", hence the more casual looking talent costume. Katie felt very strongly that it should look like she just started dancing as she was walking down the street. I think she did an amazing job!

The next competition of the evening was Swimsuit, which was extremely competitive and especially exciting for me, since both Andrea and Jillian competed one after the other. The new Miss America style walk was displayed remarkably well by several of the contestants. I was a bit nervous for everyone about the stairs, but

they all navigated them like pros. Andrea and Jillian were definite standouts, along with Nanciann Strosnider and Jenna Wilson. The flight was deep with "lookers" and it could have gone several ways.

The final competition of the evening was On Stage Question. All the contestants were asked a platform related question, and most did well. Nerves got the best of a few, but Amy did great and I was proud of the fact she was able to correlate the flooding that's been happening in the Midwest to her platform, Habitat for Humanity. I think it gave the audience (and judges) a sense of why her platform is relevent now. Most of the flight wore suits, so no real "out of the box" styles were seen. I will be interested to see if that continues to be the trend.

First Night at Miss Ohio!

This year, I've decided to stay at home a few of the nights. As many of you who watched the webcast last night, we missed contestant introductions, which is really when the excitement starts building. I was a bit disappointed, but quickly got over it when the broadcast finally began and I got a glimpse of the end of the opening production number and saw how great everyone looked. Wow, it is gonna be a great competition!

Everybody loves a parade!

Last Sunday turned out to be a gorgeous sunny day and the girls looked even more fabulous than I expected. The Miss Ohio Parade is a long-standing tradition and the contestants look forward to the chance to wave to the crowd and represent their communities. It's a great time and the funnel cakes aren't bad either.

Red Carpet Arrival at Richland Mall

The contestant check-in was a little different this year. The girls were dressed by local mall merchants and really had fun strutting their stuff. All the ladies looked great and many thanks go out to the great sponsors who made this event possible. I know the ladies all really loved what they got to model and had a fabulous time!

It's time for Sunny Mansfield! Check in day...

Check in day at Miss Ohio was less than stellar due to the massive thunderstorm that entered the area right before introductions at the Miss Ohio Festival. In true Miss Ohio spirit, the girls didn't let it stop them from thanking the Mansfield public for opening up their city and welcoming them with such hospitality. It was cold and it was went but it was even more exciting for me considering that this is Amy's and Katie's first appearances at the state level. I'm so very proud of how hard they all worked to get there! It will be an intensely competitive week, but these girls are prepared and ready to take it on. Go on girls!