Miss Teen USA 1997

Miss Teen USA 1997
Date	August 20, 1997
Presenters	J. Eddie Peck
Venue	South Padre Island Convention Centre, South Padre Island, Texas
Broadcaster	CBS
Winner	Shelly Moore Tennessee
Congeniality	Christina Todd
Photogenic	Cristin Duren

Miss Teen USA 1997, the 15th Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from South Padre Island, Texas on 20 August, 1997. At the conclusion of the final competition, Shelly Moore of Tennessee was crowned by outgoing queen Christie Lee Woods of Texas.

The pageant was hosted by J. Eddie Peck, with color commentary by Ivanka Trump, daughter of new pageant owner Donald Trump. This was the first year since 1988 that there was no special entertainment.

Results

Placements

Map showing placements by state

Final results	Contestant
Miss Teen USA 1997	Tennessee - Shelly Moore
1st runner-up	Illinois - Autumn Waterbury
2nd runner-up	Hawaii - Mahana Ka'ahumanu Walters
Top 6	North Carolina - Ali Burr Kansas - Mariah Bergman Oklahoma - Amanda Penix
Top 10	Virginia - Kimberly Grigsby North Dakota - Julie Nagle Massachusetts - Jessica Gregory Colorado - Amanda Aardsma

Special awards

• Miss Congeniality: Christina Todd (Ohio)
• Miss Photogenic: Cristin Duren (Florida)
• Style Award: Andria Mullins (Texas)

Historical significance

• This was only Colorado's second placement, after Sholone Pakoski made the semi-finals at Miss Teen USA 1990.
• Massachusetts placed for the first time since 1991, Virginia and North Carolina placed for the first time since 1992, and Hawaii placed for the first time since 1993.
• North Dakota placed for the second consecutive year, the first time this happened since 1983-1984.
• Florida became the first state to win the Miss Photogenic award in two consecutive years.

Scores

Preliminary competition

The following are the contestants' scores in the preliminary competition.

State Interview Swimsuit Evening gown Average Alabama 9.00 8.83 8.79 8.87 Alaska 8.01 8.21 8.25 8.16 Arizona 8.09 8.21 7.98 8.09 Arkansas 8.82 8.16 8.16 8.38 California 8.58 7.92 8.82 8.51 Colorado 8.39 9.48 9.15 9.01 Connecticut 8.75 8.64 8.68 8.69 Delaware 8.43 8.05 8.12 8.20 District of Columbia 8.33 8.16 8.20 8.23 Florida 8.50 9.02 8.61 8.71 Georgia 8.21 8.68 8.60 8.50 Hawaii 8.56 9.42 8.57 9.10 Idaho 9.09 8.34 8.55 8.66 Illinois 8.87 8.99 9.09 8.98 Indiana 8.25 8.22 8.44 8.30 Iowa 9.01 8.65 8.02 8.56 Kansas 9.59 9.25 9.28 9.37 Kentucky 8.84 8.91 8.99 8.91 Louisiana 8.89 8.44 8.61 8.65 Maine 8.47 8.32 8.03 8.27 Maryland 8.43 8.70 8.31 8.48 Massachusetts 9.03 9.18 9.18 9.13 Michigan 8.76 7.88 8.64 8.43 Minnesota 8.60 8.59 8.46 8.16 Mississippi 8.61 8.66 8.58 8.61 Missouri 8.96 8.61 9.16 8.91 Montana 8.11 7.84 7.79 7.91 Nebraska 8.91 8.65 8.11 8.56 Nevada 8.98 8.66 8.86 8.83 New Hampshire 9.10 8.96 8.56 8.87 New Jersey 8.69 8.72 8.46 8.62 New Mexico 8.77 8.97 8.60 8.78 New York 8.76 8.25 8.60 8.54 North Carolina 9.33 9.39 8.91 9.21 North Dakota 9.49 8.88 8.82 9.06 Ohio 8.58 8.87 8.52 8.66 Oklahoma 9.04 9.18 8.69 8.97 Oregon 8.61 8.71 8.61 8.64 Pennsylvania 8.15 8.39 8.14 8.23 Rhode Island 8.16 8.33 8.08 8.19 South Carolina 9.12 8.95 8.76 8.94 South Dakota 8.71 7.42 8.19 8.11 Tennessee 9.26 9.49 9.27 9.34 Texas 8.77 9.03 8.93 8.91 Utah 8.90 8.57 8.46 8.64 Vermont 7.97 8.10 8.00 8.02 Virginia 9.25 9.43 8.99 9.22 Washington 8.43 8.93 8.47 8.61 West Virginia 8.50 7.85 8.39 8.25 Wisconsin 8.87 8.45 8.80 8.71 Wyoming 8.31 8.24 7.61 8.05

Winner      First runner-up      Second runner-up      Finalist      Semi-finalist

Final competition scores

Country Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Tennessee 9.74 9.75 9.75 9.75 Illinois 9.60 9.67 9.75 9.67 Kansas 9.55 9.59 9.70 9.61 North Carolina 9.55 9.61 9.54 9.57 Oklahoma 9.60 9.57 9.46 9.54 Hawaii 9.40 9.51 9.64 9.52 Virginia 9.50 9.33 9.58 9.47 North Dakota 9.40 9.32 9.60 9.44 Massachusetts 9.36 9.42 9.47 9.42 Colorado 9.01 9.46 9.60 9.36

Winner      First runner-up      Second runner-up      Finalists

Delegates

The Miss Teen USA 1997 delegates were:

Alabama - Tara Tucker Alaska - Laurie Miller Arizona - Julie Gulbrandsen Arkansas - Brandi Watkins California - Kimberly Gloudemans Colorado - Amanda Aardsma Connecticut - Alita Dawson Delaware - Cheryl Crowe District of Columbia - Cheri Alexander Florida - Cristin Duren Georgia - Cheri Wheeler Hawaii - Mahana Ka'ahumanu Walters Idaho - Kimberly Whiting Illinois - Autumn Waterbury Indiana - Amber Yoder Iowa - Sarah Sucher Kansas - Mariah Bergmann Kentucky - Kelli Jones Louisiana - Sarah Price Maine - Crystal Carlson Maryland - Brandi Burkhardt Massachusetts - Jessica Gregory Michigan - Che'vonne Burton Minnesota - Jamie Duffney Mississippi - Cara Lewis Missouri - Larissa Meek

Montana - Cody Strickler Nebraska - Natasha Fisher Nevada - Kaci Thompson New Hampshire - Bonnie Lynn Gagnon New Jersey - Lauren Petty New Mexico - Vicki Hughes New York - Jessica Ferdinand North Carolina - Ali Burr North Dakota - Julie Nagle Ohio - Christina Todd Oklahoma - Amanda Penix Oregon - Steve Ficker Pennsylvania - Ashley Witner Rhode Island - Lauren Alviti South Carolina - Caroline Brigman South Dakota - Julie Keech Tennessee - Shelly Moore Texas - Andria Mullins Utah - Amy Merrill Vermont - Mariah Billado Virginia - Kimberly Grigsby Washington - Emma DeSilets West Virginia - Amanda Burns Wisconsin - Allison Schroeder Wyoming - Esmeralda Gonzales

Contestant notes

• Only a year after giving up her Teen title, Amanda Burns (West Virginia) won the Miss West Virginia USA 1999 title and went on to compete at Miss USA 1999. It is rare for a contestant to win the Miss pageant so soon after holding the Teen title.
• Nine years after competing at Miss Teen USA, Cristin Duren won the Miss Florida USA 2006 title. She had previously been a semi-finalist at Miss Florida USA 2002, and second runner-up at Miss Alabama USA 2005. Duren placed fourth runner-up and won the Miss Photogenic award at Miss USA 2006, becoming the first woman to win the Miss Photogenic award at both Miss Teen USA and Miss USA.
• Other delegates who later competed at Miss USA were:
  • Laurie Miller (Alaska) - Miss Alaska USA 2000
  • Amanda Penix (Oklahoma) - Miss Oklahoma USA 2000
  • Larissa Meek (Missouri) - Miss Missouri USA 2001 (finalist at Miss USA 2001)
  • Alita Dawson (Connecticut) - Miss Connecticut USA 2002 (fourth runner-up at Miss USA 2002)
  • Tara Tucker (Alabama) - Miss Alabama USA 2002 (semi-finalist at Miss USA 2002)
  • Cheryl Crowe (Delaware) - Miss Delaware USA 2003
• Delegates who later competed at Miss America were
  • Brandi Burkhardt (Maryland) - Miss New York 1999
  • Che'vonne Burton (Michigan) - Miss Michigan 2000
• Andria Mullins (Texas) competed in Miss USA state pageants for nine years but did not win a title. She was a non-finalist at Miss Texas USA 1999-2000, made the top fifteen in 2001, placed second runner-up in 2002, and made top twelve in 2003 and 2004. Mullins then moved to New York, where she placed fourth runner-up at Miss New York USA, to California where she made top ten at Miss California USA 2006. In her last year of eligibility Mullins again competed in New York where she placed first runner-up to Gloria Almonte, her highest placement. Fourth runner-up at that pageant was another Miss Teen USA 1997 contestant, Ashley Witner (Pennsylvania).
• Larissa Meek (Missouri) starred on the reality television show Average Joe.
• Amy Merrill (Utah) was America's National Teenager 1998.
• Lauren Petty (New Jersey) was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma afterwards, but eventually survived and became an actress, making guest appearances on several TV shows, as well as a temporary contract appearance on General Hospital.

External links

• Official website