Miss Teen USA 2007

Miss Teen USA 2007
Date	August 24, 2007
Presenters	Mario Lopez
Venue	Pasadena Civic Auditorium, Pasadena, California
Broadcaster	NBC, KNBC
Entrants	51
Placements	15
Winner	Hilary Cruz Colorado
Congeniality	Anne Elise Parks Mississippi
Photogenic	Allison Farrow Maryland

Miss Teen USA 2007, the 25th Miss Teen USA pageant, was held on August 24, 2007 in Pasadena, California. At the conclusion of the final night of the competition Hilary Cruz of Colorado was crowned Miss Teen USA 2007 by outgoing titleholder Katie Blair of Montana.^[1]

The event was hosted by Mario Lopez, who also hosted Miss Teen USA 1998 and Miss Teen USA 2003. In 2007 he also hosted the Miss America and Miss Universe pageants.^[2] The pageant was broadcast on NBC at 8:00 p.m. EST, rather than at 9:00 p.m. EST.

It was the final time the pageant was televised due to NBC failing to renew its contract. Currently, it is broadcast over the Internet on the pageant's official website, it's YouTube channel and on Xbox Live.

Results

Events

Contestants arrived in Pasadena on August 12 and participated in a number of events in the lead up to the final competition. On August 14 the official swimsuit poster shoot was held by the pool of the Pasadena Hilton, the host hotel.^[3]

Competition rounds

Finals

Miss Teen USA delegates in Hollywood, March 2007

The top fifteen was announced during the final telecast and went on to compete in the swimsuit competition, which featured music by Kat DeLuna. Following this the top ten delegates were announced and they competed in evening gowns, to music by the Jonas Brothers. After this, the two special award winners were announced, followed by the announcement of the top five delegates. The interview competition involved the top five answering a question proposed by one of the judges. Each delegate had 30 seconds to answer. Afterwards the judges had one final look at the top five as they cast their votes for the winner and runners-up. Katie Blair then took her final walk and the runners-up and winner was announced.

During the Final Question round, Aimee Teegarden asked Miss South Carolina, Lauren Caitlin Upton, why she thought a fifth of Americans are unable to locate the United States on a world map. Upton's response was:

"I personally believe that, U.S. Americans are unable to do so, because some… people out there in our nation that don’t have maps, and I believe that our education, like such as in South Africa and the Iraq, everywhere like such as, and I believe that they should… our education over here in the U.S., should help the U.S., er, should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future.., for our children... " ^[4]

Her response has been criticized as "strange" and "grammarless," and was also described as an "extreme blonde moment." ^[5][6] Videos of her response were posted to YouTube and have received several million views,^[7] and has now become an Internet phenomenon.

Chelsea Welch (West Virginia), Macy Erwin (Tennessee), Jena Sims (Georgia) and Paige Hill (Oklahoma)

The following Tuesday, August 28, Upton appeared on NBC's Today Show, where Ann Curry gave her the opportunity to formulate a new response to the same question. Upton's new reply was: "Personally, my friends and I, we know exactly where the United States is on our map. I don’t know anyone else who doesn’t. If the statistics are correct, I believe there should be more emphasis on geography in our education so people will learn how to read maps better." She said that she was "in shock" during the competition and barely heard the question that had been asked.^[8]

Delegates

The Miss Teen USA 2007 delegates were:

State	Name	Hometown	Age1	Height	Placement	Awards	Notes
Alabama	Canden Jackson[9]	Fairhope, AL	17	5'10"	Top 10
Alaska	Muriel Clauson	Anchorage, AK	17	5'9"
Arizona	Tiffany Martin	Phoenix, AZ	18	5'7"
Arkansas	Tiffany Greenstreet[10]	Melbourne, AR	18	5'4"
California	Kylee Lin[11]	San Rafael, CA	16	5'6"
Colorado	Hilary Cruz[12][13]	Louisville, CO	18	5'7"	Miss Teen USA 2007
Connecticut	Olga Litvinenko[14]	Greenwich, CT	17	5'9"			Later Miss Connecticut USA 2017
Delaware	Holly Shively	Newark, DE	16	5'4"
District of Columbia	Jasmine Alexis[15]	Washington, DC	16	5'5"			Later Miss District of Columbia's Outstanding Teen 2008, Top 10 at Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2009
Florida	Annilie Hastey	Miami, FL	18	5'8"
Georgia	Jena Sims[16]	Winder, GA	18	5'8"
Hawaii	Serena Karnagy	Honolulu, HI	16	5'5"	Top 15		competed at Miss International 2008 as Hawaii's representative.
Idaho	Krista McNeal[17]	Sandpoint, ID	18	5'8"
Illinois	Victoria Davis[18]	Thawville, IL	18	5'8"	Top 15
Indiana	Victoria Tomlinson	Anderson, IN	19	5'7"
Iowa	Dakota Crosswhite[19][20]	Cedar Rapids, IA	18	5'5"
Kansas	Jaymie Stokes[21]	Lenexa, KS	16	5'11"	Top 10		Later Miss Kansas USA 2011
Kentucky	Katrina Giannini[22]	Princeton, KY	17	5'8"
Louisiana	Logan Travis	Amite, LA	15	5'7"
Maine	Amanda Pelletier[23]	Vassalboro, ME	18	5'3"
Maryland	Allison Farrow	Earleville, MD	18	5'6"		Miss Photogenic
Massachusetts	Kathleen McNiff	Groton, MA	17	5'8"
Michigan	Caitlin Klug	Eau Claire, MI	18	5'4"
Minnesota	Vanessa Vonbehren[24]	Apple Valley, MN	17	5'7"	Top 10
Mississippi	Anne Elise Parks	New Albany, MS	18	5'9"		Miss Congeniality
Missouri	Lauren Peterson[25][26][27]	Farmington, MO	16	5'10"			Later top 20 at Miss Grand International 2015
Montana	Chelsea Nelson[28][29]	Billings, MT	17	5'9"
Nebraska	Lauren Clabaugh	Omaha, NE	16	5'7"
Nevada	Danielle Hashimoto[30]	Reno, NV	16	5'4"
New Hampshire	Alexandra MacDonald[31]	Gilford, NH	18	5'3"
New Jersey	Alyssa Campanella	Manalapan, NJ	17	5'8"	1st runner-up		Later Miss California USA 2011 and Miss USA 2011
New Mexico	Liz Kranz	Deming, NM	17	5'8"	Top 15
New York	Tatiana Pallagi[32]	Avon, NY	17	5'7"
North Carolina	Katie Coble[33]	Charlotte, NC	17	5'7"	2nd runner-up		Later Miss North Carolina USA 2017
North Dakota	Taylor Kearns[34]	Fargo, ND	18	5'7"			Later Miss North Dakota USA 2010
Ohio	Rachel Epperly	Gahanna, OH	18	5'6"
Oklahoma	Paige Hill	Oklahoma City, OK	16	6'0"
Oregon	Whitney Whitehouse	Bend, OR	17	5'6"
Pennsylvania	Kelsie Sinagra[35]	Pittsburgh, PA	17	5'5"
Rhode Island	Rochelle Rose	Cranston, RI	15	5'7"	Top 10
South Carolina	Caitlin Upton	Lexington, SC	18	5'9"	3rd runner-up		Gained notoriety following her answer to the final question, which was criticized as "strange" and "grammarless". Videos of her response were posted to YouTube and have received millions of views. Placed third with her boyfriend Brent Horne on The Amazing Race 16.
South Dakota	Kari Schull	Watertown, SD	17	5'9"
Tennessee	Macy Erwin	Chattanooga, TN	17	5'7"	Top 15
Texas	Sommer Isdale[36]	Harker Heights, TX	16	5'8"
Utah	Kelsey Brigel	Draper, UT	17	5'7"
Vermont	Olivia Hubbard[37]	Rutland, VT	17	5'6"
Virginia	Emily Bruce[38]	Lynchburg, VA	17	5'9"	Top 10
Washington	Shalane Larango[39]	Vancouver, WA	18	5'9"			Previously Miss Washington's Outstanding Teen 2005, 2nd runner-up at Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2006
West Virginia	Chelsea Welch[40]	West Union, WV	16	5'9"	4th runner-up		Later Miss West Virginia USA 2013, Top 15 at Miss USA 2013
Wisconsin	Shauna Sabir[41]	Milwaukee, WI	17	5'5"
Wyoming	Mollie Smith	Casper, WY	17	5'8"	Top 15

¹ Age as at August 2007

Contestant gallery

• 
  Muriel Clauson, Miss Alaska Teen USA 2007
• 
  Tiffany Martin, Miss Arizona Teen USA 2007
• 
  Kylee Lin, Miss California Teen USA 2007
• 
  Jasmine Alexis (right), Miss District of Columbia Teen USA 2007
• 
  Jena Sims, Miss Georgia Teen USA 2007
• 
  Serena Karnagy, Miss Hawaii Teen USA 2007
• 
  Dakota Crosswhite, Miss Iowa Teen USA 2007
• 
  Logan Travis, Miss Louisiana Teen USA 2007
• 
  Vanessa Vonbehren, Miss Minnesota Teen USA 2007
• 
  Alyssa Campanella, Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2007, Miss California USA 2011, Miss USA 2011
• 
  Tatiana Pallagi, Miss New York Teen USA 2007
• 
  Katie Coble, Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2007
• 
  Paige Hill, Miss Oklahoma Teen USA 2007
• 
  Kelsie Sinagra, Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA 2007
• 
  Macy Erwin, Miss Tennessee Teen USA 2007
• 
  Sommer Isdale, Miss Texas Teen USA 2007
• 
  Kelsey Brigel, Miss Utah Teen USA 2007
• 
  Chelsea Welch, Miss West Virginia Teen USA 2007
• 
  Shauna Sabir, Miss Wisconsin Teen USA 2007

Contestant notes

Alyssa Campanella, Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2007, later Miss California USA 2011, Miss USA 2011

• Most delegates won their state crown on the first attempt; however, eight contestants had competed previously.
  • California, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas won their state crowns on their second attempt. California placed 4th runner up in the 2006 Miss California Teen USA pageant. Florida was unplaced in the 2006 Miss Florida Teen USA pageant. New Jersey was a semi-finalist in the Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2006 pageant. North Carolina placed 4th runner-up in 2006's Miss North Carolina Teen USA pageant. South Carolina placed 3rd runner-up in the 2006 Miss South Carolina Teen USA pageant. Lastly, Texas placed as 1st runner-up in 2006's Miss Texas Teen USA pageant.
  • Maryland won her state title at her third attempt. She previously placed 3rd runner-up in the 2006 Miss Maryland Teen USA pageant and was unplaced at the 2005 pageant.
• Miss Washington Teen USA, Shalane Larango, was the first delegate to cross over from the Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant to compete in Miss Teen USA. Shalane was Miss Washington's Outstanding Teen 2005 and placed 2nd runner up in the Miss America's Outstanding Teen 2005 pageant.
• Jena Sims (Georgia) was Miss National Junior Teenager 2005.
• Caitlin Klug (Michigan) competed in the National American Coed circuit, winning several Michigan titles; the Junior Miss America circuit; and the National American Miss circuit.
• New Jersey won Miss California USA 2011 and Miss USA 2011.

See also

• Miss USA 2007
• Miss Universe 2007

References