Jillian Duffy, left, and Erika Farrell dance in a choreographed routine during Saturday’s Miss Connecticut’s Outstanding Teen finals. Farrell made the top 10. Duffy was first runner-up.
Miss Forestville Molly Westfall, left, hugs Valerie Voccio, Miss Shoreline, after both achieved the top 10 in the Miss Connecticut Scholarship pageant in New London Saturday.
Miss Bristol Elizabeth Wong performs a tap dance routine at Saturday’s finals for the Miss Connecticut Scholarship pagent.
The new Miss Connecticut Acacia Courtney, left, and the new Miss Connecticut’s Outstanding Teen Cynthia Moura Dias.
PHOTOS by MIKE CHAIKEN
by MIKE CHAIKEN
The local representatives for the Miss Connecticut and Miss Connecticut’s Outstanding Teen scholarship pageant got a glimpse of the crown.
But in the end, at Saturday’s finals at the Garde Arts Center in New London, Acacia Courtney was crowned Miss Connecticut and Cynthia Moura Dias is the new Miss Connecticut’s Outstanding Teen.
Courtney was competing as Miss Hamden, and Dias as Miss Wolcott’s Outstanding Teen.
Of the local representatives, Miss Forestville Molly Westfall and Miss Bristol Elizabeth Wong both earned top 10 status to earn the right to compete in the finals Saturday night. Both, however, did not make the top five.
Wong did receive the Miracle Maker award in the Miss category for raising the most funds for the Children’s Miracle Network. (Dias won similar honors in the Teen category.)
Erika Farrell, Miss Forestville’s Outstanding Teen, also achieved top 10 status to earn the right to compete in Saturday afternoon’s competition. However, she did not make it into the top five.
Two contestants with local ties, however, reached the top two.
Jillian Duffy, a former Miss Mum in Bristol and a former Miss Forestville’s Outstanding Teen, was first runner-up. She was competing as Miss Farmington Valley’s Outstanding teen. During preliminaries, she received the talent and lifestyle and physical fitness awards.
Alexandria Puglisi, who owns a business on Spring Street in Southington, was first runner-up in the Miss category. She was competing as Miss New Haven County. In preliminaries, she received the talent and lifestyle and physical fitness awards.
Also competing from the area were Miss Southington Jennifer Binversie, Miss Bristol’s Outstanding Teen Amber Ouellette, Miss Plainville’s Outstanding Teen Brooke Murdock, and Miss Southington’s Outstanding Teen Jennifer Bukowski.