Miss Teen USA 1996

Miss Teen USA 1996
Date	August 21, 1996
Presenters	Bob Goen, Shari Belafonte
Entertainment	The Monkees
Venue	Pan American Center, Las Cruces, New Mexico
Broadcaster	CBS, KDBC-TV
Winner	Christie Lee Woods Texas
Congeniality	Lavinia Magruder
Photogenic	Kelly Gaudet

Miss Teen USA 1996, the 14th Miss Teen USA pageant, was televised live from Las Cruces, New Mexico on 21 August 1996. At the conclusion of the final competition, Christie Lee Woods of Texas was crowned by outgoing queen Keylee Sue Sanders of Kansas.^[1]

The pageant was hosted by Bob Goen for the third and final year, with color commentary by Shari Belafonte and entertainment from The Monkees. This was the only year that the pageant was held in Las Cruces, although Albuquerque had previously played host to the 1987 Miss USA pageant.

Results

Placements

Map showing placements by state

• Miss Teen USA 1996: Christie Lee Woods (Texas)
• The runners-up were:
  • 1st runner-up: Patricia Campbell (Pennsylvania)
  • 2nd runner-up: Michelle Cardamon (California)
• The other top six finalists were (in order of placement): Jennifer Smith (Maryland), Leah Sexton (Missouri) and Courtney Hamilton (Arizona).
• The remaining semi-finalists were (in order of placement): Latoya Farley (Oklahoma), Tamika Thomas (Michigan), Katrina Bergstrom (North Dakota), Aiesha Hendrick (New York)

Special awards

• Miss Congeniality: Lavinia Magruder (Vermont)
• Miss Photogenic: Kelly Gaudet (Florida)
• Style Award: Mandy Carraway (Kansas)
• Best in Swimsuit: Leah Sexton (Missouri)

Historical significance

• Pennsylvania recorded their highest placement in the pageant up to that time.
• Michigan placed for the first time. Prior to the pageant, it was one of only three states that had never made the semi-finals. Of the remaining two, Nebraska did not place until 2004, and Montana recorded their first placement in 2006 when Katie Blair won the Miss Teen USA title.
• This was Maryland's first placement since 1992, North Dakota's first since 1991, and Arizona's first since 1990.
• Texas also made the cut for the first time since 1991, ending four consecutive years without placement. This was the longest period without placement in the state's history, coming after it placed in eight of the nine years since the competition started.
• For the first time ever, 6 out of 10 semifinalists were African-American.

Scores

Preliminary competition

The following is the contestants average scores in the preliminary competition.

State Average Alabama 8.70 Alaska 8.42 Arizona 9.25 Arkansas 8.70 California 9.18 Colorado 8.40 Connecticut 8.22 Delaware 8.55 District of Columbia 8.44 Florida 9.13 Georgia 8.78 Hawaii 8.73 Idaho 8.47 Illinois 8.82 Indiana 8.46 Iowa 8.77 Kansas 8.88 Kentucky 8.86 Louisiana 8.99 Maine 8.29 Maryland 9.25 Massachusetts 9.04 Michigan 9.14 Minnesota 9.01 Mississippi 8.39 Missouri 9.26 Montana 8.49 Nebraska 8.62 Nevada 9.01 New Hampshire 8.59 New Jersey 8.28 New Mexico 8.56 New York 9.21 North Carolina 8.51 North Dakota 9.40 Ohio 8.92 Oklahoma 9.31 Oregon 8.51 Pennsylvania 9.32 Rhode Island 8.73 South Carolina 9.10 South Dakota 8.92 Tennessee 8.97 Texas 9.27 Utah 8.40 Vermont 8.13 Virginia 8.90 Washington 8.52 West Virginia 8.55 Wisconsin 8.44 Wyoming 8.55

Winner        First runner-up        Second runner-up        Finalist        Semi-finalist

Final competition scores

Country Preliminaries Interview Swimsuit Evening Gown Average Finalists Missouri 9.26 9.84 9.76 9.77 9.79 9.54 California 9.18 9.76 9.64 9.66 9.69 9.71 Pennsylvania 9.32 9.75 9.63 9.54 9.64 9.86 Texas 9.27 9.39 9.74 9.72 9.62 9.73 Arizona 9.25 9.56 9.59 9.70 9.62 9.40 Maryland 9.25 9.40 9.73 9.55 9.56 9.60 Oklahoma 9.31 9.44 9.57 9.63 9.54 Michigan 9.13 9.37 9.51 9.40 9.42 North Dakota 9.40 9.15 9.30 9.38 9.27 New York 9.21 9.19 9.18 9.32 9.23

Winner        First runner-up        Second runner-up        Finalists

Delegates

The Miss Teen USA 1996 delegates were:

• Alabama - Luann Roberts
• Alaska - Brandee McCoskey
• Arizona - Courtney Hamilton
• Arkansas - Aimee Delatte
• California - Michelle Cardamon
• Colorado - Ara Francis^[2]
• Connecticut - Marissa Perez
• Delaware - Ashley Anderson
• District of Columbia - Shannan McCray
• Florida - Kelly Gaudet^[3]
• Georgia - Summer Newmann
• Hawaii - Monica Ivey
• Idaho - Suzan Dandeneau
• Illinois - Eisa Istok
• Indiana - Misha Ivetich
• Iowa - Allison Dickey
• Kansas - Amanda Carraway
• Kentucky - Kelly Marie Sodan
• Louisiana - Kimi Fairchild^[4]
• Maine - Laura Larson
• Maryland - Jennifer Smith
• Massachusetts - Maria Menounos
• Michigan - Tamika Thomas
• Minnesota - Sarah Cahill
• Mississippi - Brandee Layne Loving
• Missouri - Leah Sexton
• Montana - Grace Murray Tubbs
• Nebraska - Mandy Groff^[5]
• Nevada - Cerina Vincent^[6]
• New Hampshire - Melissa Coish
• New Jersey - Jessica Ponzo
• New Mexico - Whitni Zimmerman
• New York - Aiesha Hendrick^[7]
• North Carolina - Tammy Ashton
• North Dakota - Katrina Bergstrom
• Ohio - Tara Shaffer
• Oklahoma - Latoya Farley^[8]
• Oregon - Heather Noelle Jones
• Pennsylvania - Patricia Campbell
• Rhode Island - Kelly Dutra
• South Carolina - Wendy Christina Roberts
• South Dakota - Tatewin Means
• Tennessee - Adrienne Parker^[9]
• Texas - Christie Lee Woods
• Utah - Jodi Webb
• Vermont - Lavinia Magruder
• Virginia - Kandy Marshall
• Washington - Emily Ballard^[10]
• West Virginia - Heather Gray^[11]
• Wisconsin - Nicole Lynn Werra
• Wyoming - Michelle Marie Jefferson

Crossovers

• Two contestants later competed in the Miss America pageant. Kelly Gaudet (Florida) later became Miss Florida 2001 and Marissa Perez (Connecticut) held the Miss Connecticut title the same year. Gaudet made the top ten in the pageant.
• Two other contestants competed in the Miss USA pageant. Amanda Carraway (Kansas) became Miss Kansas USA 1999 and Sarah Cahill (Minnesota) was Miss Minnesota USA 2003. Since 1990, this year had the smallest number of delegates who went on to win a Miss USA state title.
• Christie Lee Woods later competed on the fifth season of the Emmy award winning CBS reality show, The Amazing Race, with her boyfriend turned fiance Colin Guinn, and finished in second place. They were deemed by the show's host to be one of the most competitive couples to ever compete.
• Patricia Campbell (PA), won one of the episodes of NBC's reality show Fear Factor

Judges

• Joyce Brothers
• Karen Clark
• Chris Cooper
• Bobbie Eakes
• Joseph Kendall
• Bob Van Riper

References

1. "18-Year-Old Texan Clinches Miss Teen USA Title". The Associated Press. 1996-08-21.
2. Massaro, Gary (1996-05-02). "Teen eyes national beauty pageant; Being a `burger queen' hasn't hurt". Rocky Mountain News.
3. "Kelly Gaudet of Miami crowned 1996 Miss Florida Teen USA". Business Wire. 1995-11-25.
4. "Area contestant in Miss Teen show". The Baton Rouge Advocate. 1996-08-21.
5. Wright, Kristi (1995-10-15). "Just the Girl Next Door Model, Titleholder Says She Works Hard, but She's Average Teen at Heart Mandy Groff". The Omaha World-Herald.
6. Garza, Nora (1995-11-14). "Miss Nevada Teen USA serving as role model". The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
7. Trout Lowen, J (1995-11-28). "A little bit teen-ager, a little bit beauty queen: Liverpool High School junior crowned Miss New York Teen USA". Syracuse Herald-Journal.
8. "Holland Hall Student Is Miss Oklahoma Teen USA". Tulsa World. 1995-10-18.
9. "UT coed competes for Miss Teen USA; Newport native represents state at national pageant". The Knoxville News-Sentinel. 1996-08-14.
10. Pierce, Annie (1996-08-19). "Vancouver teen-ager eagerly practicing for national pageant". The Columbian.
11. "Miss Teen winner to represent state". Charleston Gazette. 1996-08-17.

External links

• Official website