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Miss America Gets Hip; Michigan Lass Gets Tiara

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 27, 2008

Miss Michigan Kirsten Haglund, a 19-year-old aspiring Broadway star, was crowned Miss America 2008 on Saturday in a live show billed as the unveiling of the 87-year-old pageant's new, hipper look.

Haglund, of Farmington Hills, Mich., sang "Over the Rainbow" to clinch the title. She beat Miss Indiana Nicole Elizabeth Rash, the first runner-up, and Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto, the second runner-up, for the $50,000 scholarship that comes with the crown.

Haglund, who studies music at the University of Cincinnati, grew up in a pageant family. Her grandmother Iora Hunt competed for the crown as Miss Michigan 1944.

The crowning at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip was aired for the first time on TLC. It capped a four-week reality series, "Miss America: Reality Check," which followed the contestants as they were pushed to shed the dated look of Miss Americas past and adopt a more updated style.

Producers had hoped a new confident attitude would show through on the catwalks, and Miss Utah Jill Stevens, an Army medic who served in Afghanistan, didn't disappoint.

"Home of the country's highest birth rate - as long as the Osmonds don't move," she announced.

Stevens made it to the final 16, selected as "America's Choice," based on voting via text messages from viewers of the reality show.

Today's Birthdays
Ballet star Mikhail Baryshnikov is 60. John Roberts, chief justice of the United States, is 53. Rock musician Janick Gers (Iron Maiden) is 51. Country singer Tracy Lawrence is 40.

Source: The Associated Press

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