#miss dc teen usa
Congratulations to Miss DC USA 2015 Lizzy Olsen and Miss DC Teen USA 2015 Niara Tarleton-Allen! Apologies for this results recap coming so late, I’ve been away for Christmas holidays.
Both Lizzy and Niara have past experience, Lizzy was a semi-finalist in last year’s Miss Oklahoma USA 2014 pageant and Niara was second runner-up in Miss DC Teen USA 2014. Niara is the first Teen winner since 2005 who had previously competed in the pageant (although last year’s winner Dominick Fink had been a runner-up in Virginia previously). She also won the Congeniality award this year.
Lizzy and Niara take their first walk. Photo by Vithaya Photography.
First runner-up in the Miss pageant was newcomer Kara McCullough. Shannon Lynch repeated her 2014 placement, finishing second runner-up. Third runner-up went to Miss DC Teen USA 2012 Sierra Hadley, only the second 2012 Teen to compete in the Miss division so far (more info here), and fourth runner-up was another first-time contestant, Joanna Zimmerman.
In Teen, first runner-up was Erica White-Ruffin who was fourth runner-up last year and first runner-up in 2013. Second runner-up was Emily Berriz, who improved one spot from last year. Newbie Kennedy Taylor placed third runner-up and fourth runner-up went to 2014 Maryland semi-finalist Bryce Armstrong. With only eight contestants, all the Teens competed again on finals night and the first cut was to the top five.
Full results:
Miss District of Columbia USA 2015 - Lizzy Olsen (SF OK USA 14)
1RU: Kara McCullough
2RU: Shannon Lynch (2RU 14)
3RU: Sierra Hadley (Miss DC Teen USA 2012)
4RU: Joanna Zimmerman
Semi-finalists:
DeShauna Barber (SF VA USA 10)
Chelsea Boone (SF MD USA 14, NF 13, NF 12)
Rosie Brinckerhoff
Carlitta Constant
Jasmine Jones
Johanna King (SF 14)
Amanda Mobley (NF 14, NF NY USA 13, T20 NY USA 12)
Alex Rose
Torrie Simpson (NF MD USA 14)
Alex Swoyer (NF TX USA 14, SF FL USA 13, NF MO USA 10)
Elle White
Congeniality: Kara McCullough
Photogenic: Carlitta Constant
***
Miss DC Teen USA 2015 - Niara Tarleton-Allen (2RU 14)
1RU: Erica White-Ruffin (4RU 14, 1RU 13)
2RU: Emily Berriz (3RU 14, NF VA TUSA 13)
3RU: Kennedy Taylor
4RU: Bryce Armstrong (SF MD TUSA 14)
Congeniality: Niara Tarleton-Allen
Photogenic: Kennedy Taylor
Miss District of Columbia USA & Teen USA will be crowned this Sunday, with the final show starting at 3.30 pm. There has been another increase in the number of Miss contestants this year, but sadly the Teen numbers have dropped back to under ten (this is fairly usual in DC but it was great to see that new director Carla Crawford and her team were able to recruit 16 last year). Congratulations to outgoing titleholders Ciera Nicole and Dominick Fink for the awesome job they did as DC’s representatives for 2014.
In the Miss division there are two former Teens competing, the first time in my memory that they’ve had more than one return in the same year. They are both competing in the Miss division for the first time. Sierra Hadley was Miss DC Teen USA 2012 - only the second 2012 Teen to compete in Miss so far - and Jasmine Alexis was Miss DC Teen USA 2007 and Miss DC’s Outstanding Teen 2008. The only returning 2014 runner-up is Shannon Lynch who was second runner-up last year (first runner-up Jessica Bermudez was a semi-finalist in Pennsylvania a couple of weekends ago). There is also Tara Ward, third runner-up in 2010, who has competed in NJ as well.
Unsurprisingly for DC there are a number of contestants who have previously competed in other states. From Maryland there are DeJanee Fennell, Chelsea Booneand Torrie Simpson, from Virginia DeShauna Barberand Amanda Mobley twice competed in New York before first competing in DC last year. Alex Swoyer has come from farthest afield, she has previously competed in Missouri, Florida and Texas.
Returning former Teens Jasmine Alexis (2007) and Sierra Hadley (2012). Jasmine was originally first runner-up and took over the title before Miss Teen USA when the winner resigned. How awesome would it be for her to get her crowning moment?!
In Teen, five of the eight contestants have competed in TUSA state pageants previously. There are three returning runners-up: second runner-up Niara Tarleton-Allen, third runner-up Emily Berriz and fourth runner-up Erica White-Ruffin (who was also first runner-up in 2013). As with the Miss division there are a few who have previously competed in Maryland and Virginia - including 2014 MD Teen semi-finalist Bryce Allen.
2014 Teen top five (2014 contestants in bold) - Erica White-Ruffin(4RU),Niara Tarleton-Allen(2RU), Dominick Fink, Maura Deegan (1RU), Emily Berriz(3RU)
MISS CONTESTANTS (31)
Jasmine Alexis(Miss DC Teen USA 07, Miss DC’s Outstanding Teen 08)
Deshauna Barber (SF VA USA 10)
Gianni Boler
Chelsea Boone (SF MD USA 14, NF 13, NF 12)
Rosie Brinckerhoff
Carlitta Constant
Dejanee Fennell (NF MD USA 14)
Jazmyn Fuller
Taya Gaskins-Scott
Sierra Hadley(Miss DC Teen USA 12)
Stephanie Hernandez
Vernetta Jenkins
Cathyana Jean-Baptiste
Jasmine Jones
Niki Kafashzadeh
Megan Kearney
Johanna King (SF 14)
Shannon Lynch (2RU 14)
Kristin McCovery
Kara McCullough
Amanda Mobley (NF 14, NF NY USA 13, T20 NY USA 12)
Lizzy Olsen
Shangti Petty (NF 14)
Rayna Reid
Alex Rose
Torrie Simpson (NF MD USA 14)
Alex Swoyer (NF TX USA 14, SF FL USA 13, NF MO USA 10)
Tara Ward (NF 13, NF NJ USA 12, 3RU 10, SF NJ TUSA 08)
Elle White
Nia Williams
Joanna Zimmerman
TEEN CONTESTANTS (8)
Bryce Armstrong (SF MD TUSA 14)
Christian Bailey
Emily Berriz (3RU 14, NF VA TUSA 13)
Beatrice Dumitrache (NF MD TUSA 13)
Jamie Elliott
Niara Tarleton-Allen (2RU 14)
Kennedy Taylor
Erica White-Ruffin (4RU 14, 1RU 13)
