Miss Hamilton County Stefanie Wittler won the first round swimsuit preliminary Wednesday night at the Miss Tennessee Pageant as history repeated itself for the Soddy-Daisy resident. The 22-year-old senior at UT-Chattanooga who was also representing Hamilton County at the time, won the opening night swimsuit award three years ago en route to her third runner-up finish.
The Communications major who returned to competition after taking a year long hiatus, wore a white two-piece suit with gold trim as she received the judges’ highest marks. Miss Wittler, who appeared in a Krystal commercial last year, was the first to compete in her group of 12. The 36 contestants are divided into three groups of 12 each during the three nights of preliminaries.
Miss Memphis Cyrena Wages won the talent portion for her vocal rendition of “Up to the Mountain”.
Miss Wittler is a spokesperson for Chattanooga’s Ronald McDonald House, where she and her parents Steve and Kimaley Wittler have been volunteers since its opening in November, 1990. Should she be selected as Miss Tennessee 2009 on Saturday night, she will promote the Ronald McDonald House Charities in conjunction with the Miss America national platform of Children’s Miracle Network.
She could also become the second Soddy-Daisy native to become Miss Tennessee in six years following in the footsteps of the 2003 winner Jamie Watkins Davenport. Miss Wittler would also become the sixth area entrant in a decade to capture the coveted title and would succeed Ellen Carrington, the Jackson resident who is the former Miss Scenic City.
Several of the Chattanooga area representatives also competed in swimsuit including Miss Chattanooga Ivy DePew, Miss Metropolitan Kaley Schwab and Miss Scenic City Chandler Lawson. Miss Cleveland Stacy Reigle and Miss Capital City Rebecca Lofty of Jasper competed in talent while Miss City Lights Kayla Hockett was in the evening gown and on-stage question segment.
Preliminaries will continue Thursday and Friday leading up to Saturday’s finals where the new Miss Tennessee will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship and a full-time job as the Governor’s spokesperson for a Safe and Drug Free Tennessee. The pageant is being webcast on http://www.eplustv6.com