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Mississippi 2008
Christine Kozlowski Jun. 28, 2008 Story by: Emily Henry / The Vicksburg Post Click here for pictures of the event!
The 2008 Miss Mississippi Pageant was held June 24 - 26 & 28, 2008 at the Vicksburg Convention Center. Miss Mississippi 2007 Kimberly Morgan was on hand to crown her successor. The theme of the pageant was "The Mirror Ball" and featured an array of professional and amateur dancers, many from Vicksburg. The pageant was hosted by Michael Young and Miss Mississippi 2006 Taryn Foshee. eatured performers were Miss Mississippi 1962 Chalie Rey and Michael Evans. Final Results Miss Gulf Coast Christine Kozlowski danced her way to the Miss Mississippi 2008 crown Saturday night at the Vicksburg Convention Center, topping off the 51st year of the competition in the city. Kozlowski, a D'Iberville resident and University of Southern Mississippi sophomore majoring in nutrition and dietetics, performed a lyrical dance, "So Small." This was the second year for Kozlowski, the oldest of the four children of Brian and Norma Kozlowski, to compete. In 2007, she was Miss Mississippi Coast. While waiting to hear the winner's name called on stage, Kozlowski and first runner-up Miss Mid South Ashley Buckman clasped arms and appeared to breathe little. Buckman, a four-year veteran of the state pageant, sang Broadway's "Feeling Good." The 23-year-old is a second-year law student at the Mississippi College School of Law. The remaining semifinalists were: Miss University Mary Brandon Norman, dance, return '07; Miss Houston/North Central Anna Tadlock, vocal, 3rd ru '07, top ten '06; Miss Madison County Sarah Beth James, vocal, newcomerl; Miss Jones County Kristen Benigno, vocal, return '07; and Miss Mississippi State University Corie Stanford, vocal, top ten in '07 and '06. Thursday Prelim Results For the first time in years, no contestant for Miss Mississippi this year won more than one preliminary competition. In Thursday night's competition, the final night of the preliminaries in the road to the crowning of Miss Mississippi 2008 on Saturday night, Miss Magnolia Brittainy Childers, 24, of Wren, captured the talent tops. The four-year pageant veteran will receive a $300 scholarship. Miss Rankin County Crystal Flores, 19, of Brandon, won the third preliminary in swimwear. She will receive a $200 scholarship. Childers, who is returning to the pageant after a two-year hiatus, sang "Unchained Melody" for her win. "I've been singing 'Unchained Melody' since I was 13," she said. "I told my grandfather that if I ever came back to Miss Mississippi that's what I'd sing." Childers is a graduate of Mississippi State University. She received a bachelor's degree in business administration and management and is now an assistant marketing director for University Management. She left the pageant for a few years so that she "could come here with no regrets," she said. "I'm just ecstatic, to be honest," Childers said. Flores said that hearing her name called as the final preliminary swimwear winner "was amazing." "I've been in the gym all summer," she said.Flores is a freshman at the University of Mississippi where she studies communicative disorders. Now that preliminaries are over, she hopes to "just have a blast. It's all about having fun," she said. Along with featured performer Miss Mississippi 1962 Chalie Carroll Ray, emcee Miss Mississippi 2006 Taryn Foshee and vocal director Miss Mississippi 1992 Kandace Williams, at least two other former winners were at Thursday's show. Miss Mississippi 1978 Cheri Brown returned to sing the National Anthem and Miss Mississippi 2002 Jennifer Adcock was in the audience. Wednesday Prelim Results A tie in talent marked the second night of preliminary competition during the 51st Miss Mississippi Pageant in Vicksburg. Miss Tupelo Meredith Beeman, 20, of Tupelo, and Miss Mississippi Coast Marie Wicks, 19, of Ocean Springs, tied for the pageant's second preliminary talent awards. They will each receive a $300 scholarship for the talent win. Miss Gulf Coast Christine Kozlowski, 19, of D'Iberville, won the second preliminary in swimwear. She will receive a $200 scholarship. Beeman performed a ballet en pointe to "In the Hall of the Mountain King." "It's a very familiar tune and so it's easy for the audience to get behind," she said. Beeman began dancing in the third grade and is now a junior dance and history major at the University of Alabama. She competed in the 2005 Miss Mississippi's Outstanding Teen Pageant and was named first alternate. As a dance major, she spends at least two hours a day in dance class, she said. "I'm just so pleased and so honored," she said. Wicks, a sophomore at the University of Mississippi, began playing piano in the second grade. She played the third movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata." "I heard it and fell in love with it, so I decided to learn it," she said. Though Wicks is an international studies and public policy leadership major, she also takes piano lessons at Ole Miss. This is Wicks' first experience with the Miss Mississippi Pageant, but she was a Top 10 finalist in Mississippi's Junior Miss 2007. To prepare for her swimwear win, Kozlowski danced to prepare for her talent and did cardio exercises, but had another secret weapon. "I actually swam in jeans," she said. The goal was to lengthen her muscles. Kozlowski competed in the Miss Mississippi Pageant last year as Miss Mississippi Coast. A sophomore nutrition major at the University of Southern Mississippi, Kozlowski is also very meticulous about watching what she eats. "I make sure to do everything the healthy way," she said. But, "I do have a weakness for brownies." Tuesday Prelim Results Two pageant veterans took home the honors Tuesday in the 2008 Miss Mississippi Pageant's first night of preliminary competition at the Vicksburg Convention Center. It is the pageant's 51st year in Vicksburg. Third-year competitor Miss Mississippi State University Corie Stanford won Tuesday's preliminary talent award by singing "Time to Say Goodbye." "I thought it was beautiful," she said about why she chose the Sarah Brightman song. "It moved me." The song, from an opera, was partially in Italian, which made it a challenge, 21-year-old Stanford said. Stanford competed for the Miss Mississippi title as Miss Itawamba Community College in 2006 and Miss Tupelo in 2007, placing in the Top 10 both years. She received a preliminary talent award in 2006. "I'm trying not to cry," she said. "I'm just bouncing off the wall." Stanford, a resident of Saltillo, is a senior communication and public relations major at Mississippi State University. She will receive a $300 scholarship for her win. Miss Hinds County Diana Strickland, 23, took home the honors in swimwear. "It was tough - we were standing backstage and I thought everyone looked amazing," the Jackson resident said. Strickland competed in 2006 as Miss Leaf River Valley. She is a 2007 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, where she received a bachelor's degree in mass communication and journalism, with minors in Spanish and dance performance. One of the ways she keeps fit is by running, recently placing first in her age division in the Southeast Regional Championship Sweetwater Half Marathon. "I really enjoy exercising. There's a feeling of accomplishment" and discipline, Strickland said. She will receive a $200 scholarship for the first swimwear preliminary. This year's pageant theme is The Mirror Ball and features Morgan, Miss Mississippi 1962 Chalie Carroll Ray and local Vicksburg men as dance partners for the production's ballroom numbers. Mississippi Trivia:
The Mississippi state pageant started in 1934, has been held in Vicksburg since 1958. Mississippi has had four Miss America winners. And the first two were back-to-back winners. Then the third one, came exactly 20 years later. The last winner came six year later in 1986. They have finished in the top 5 thirteen times..... 1st RU : 1949, 4th RU : 1953, 1st RU : 1965, 1st RU : 1967, 3rd RU : 1970, 2nd RU (tie) : 1980, 2nd RU : 1982, 3rd RU : 1983, 2nd RU : 1984, 4th RU : 1987, 4th RU : 1991, 2nd RU : 1997, 3rd RU : and 2000, 3rd RU. In 2007, Taryn Foshee came very close to becoming the thirteenth Mississippi Mississippi has also made the semi-finalist eight times.... 1981, 1985, 1988, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2002. They have also place in the quarter-finalist twice when Becky Pruett made it in 2001 and 2008 when Kimberly Morgan placed. At the Miss America pageant, Mississippi representatives have captured an amazing 12 Preliminary Swimsuit Awards. Mississippi representatives have also captured a number of Preliminary and Non-Finalist Talent award as well.
In State Pageant History, Hattiesburg is home to nine Miss Mississippis; more than any other city/town. Five Miss Mississippi's went on to compete for the title of Miss USA representing the Magnolia State. Jennifer Adcock ('02) finished in the top ten at Miss USA in 2005 and Kathy Manning ('84) finished in the top ten in 1987. TO ADD OR UPDATE CONTENT TO TFTJ, use the Submission Forms.
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