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Final night of preliminaries more relaxed for Smaby
By RANDY ERICKSON | randy.erickson@lee.net

LAS VEGAS — Kristina Smaby’s third night of preliminary competition for Miss America week was going to be kind of like a cakewalk for her compared to the first two nights.

Tuesday night was her talent preliminary, in which the 22-year-old Holmen High School graduate danced en pointe to “River Deep, Mountain High.” Wednesday, she had to answer an onstage question about her platform, Connecting Generations.

Miss Wisconsin Kristina Smaby walks the stage Thursday night in the last of three preliminary phases of competition during Miss America week at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. Miss Michigan won Thursday nights evening gown honors, while Miss Oregon won the swimsuit segment, which Smaby also took part in. For more photos from Miss America week in Las Vegas, check out the online photo gallery. Photo by Randy Erickson

Thursday evening at Planet Hollywood, she was to compete in the evening gown and lifestyle/fitness portions of the pageant along with the others in her 17-member Alpha group.

In an interview Thursday afternoon, Smaby said she was least nervous about that night’s events out of the three prelims.

"I’m just excited. All I have to do is walk tonight.I’m walking in my swimsuit, walking in my evening gown,” Smaby said. “I want the judges to see me, to see the unfading beauty, knowing what’s here (gestures toward her heart) is always going to be here and maybe what you see in my dress and my face and my hair and my makeup, that’s a material thing, that’s not what matters."

Smaby has competed in 10 pageants, including four times at Miss Wisconsin, on her way to Miss America. She said she’ll be very comfortable walking out on the stage in a swimsuit and high heels.

"It’s 15 seconds, and they’re not looking at you up and down, saying ‘Oh, is this toned is this big, is this small?’” Smaby said.

While the swimsuit portion reveals general fitness, Smaby said, the judges are looking to see how self assured contestants are, how comfortable they are in their own skin. “You know when someone has confidence, they exude it the moment they walk on that stage,” Smaby said. “You know."

While Smaby said she was happy with how she expressed herself in Wednesday’s onstage question segment, it could have been better. It’s a true test of the contestants’ ability to think on their feet, especially when they’re sleep-deprived, as Smaby is.

"You only literally have two seconds to decide what you do," she said of the onstage question. “But I felt good about it. It was comfortable, it was real."

Friday’s activities were to include a morning of “rehearsals, rehearsals, rehearsals,” with the evening to include an exclusive “Evening of Dreams” fundraising dinner, followed by a viewing of “Miss America: Behind the Curtain,” which airs at 9 p.m. in the Midwest on TLC.

Contestants in each of the three groups voted for which of their fellow misses best exemplified Miss America, which the top four votegetters from each group featured on the show. On “Miss America: Behind the Curtain,” viewers will be told how they can vote to send four of those contestants into Saturday night’s televised finale, which will be hosted by Mario Lopez.

Smaby and Smaby Nation are heard in prelims

REPORTERS NOTEBOOK

A press conference Thursday morning at Planet Hollywood gathered 12 former Miss Americas whose reigns spanned seven decades. The earliest winner present was BeBe Shopp, who won as Miss Minnesota in 1948. She was part of a troupe of half a dozen former Miss Americas who traveled to Afghanistan to meet with U.S. soldiers there. Also on hand was Erica Dunlap, who was Miss America 2004 and came in third place with her husband, Brian, in the most recent edition of the globetrotting reality show, “The Amazing Race.” Dunlap also was part of the group that visited Afghanistan. See the online edition of this story to view video footage from the often uproarious press conference.

Sam Haskell III, chairman of the board for the Miss America Organization and author of the bestselling book, “Promises I Made My Mother,” announced that starting this year, each Miss America Pageant will pay tribute to the winner from 50 years before. This year’s honoree will be Lynda Mead, who won the title as Miss Mississippi in 1960.

The winners of Miss America’s Quality of Life Award honoring outstanding community service. As winner, Miss Oklahoma Taylor Treat, whose platform is “Engaging Students Through Service Learning,” gets a $6,000 scholarship. Miss New Hampshire Lindsey Graham won a $4,000 scholarship as first runner-up, and Miss Nevada Christina Keegan was second runner-up and earned a $2,000 scholarship. Graham and Keegan have platforms focusing on mental illness and rape education, respectively.

Winners in Wednesday night’s preliminary round were Miss California Kristy Cavinder, who won a $2,000 scholarship for her ballet performance from "Le Corsaire," and Miss New York Alyse Zwick, who won a $1,000 scholarship in the swimsuit competition.

Miss Michigan Nicole Blaszczyk was named Thursday night’s preliminary talent winner for her lyrical dance performance to "Lifetime," during the last preliminary night of competition. Miss Oregon CC Barber was the preliminary swimsuit winner for the night.

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More Miss America: Searching for Miss America: Las Vegas odyssey an education in ups, downs of pageantry No Miss America crown for Smaby, but she’s still a winner Pageant week a whirl for Smaby’s mother Final night of preliminaries more relaxed for Smaby Here come the judges: Smaby will have to impress six celebs Crazy schedule leads up to first prelim for Smaby Smaby Nation: Loud and proud for Miss Wisconsin

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