Miss Shelby County Hannah Disterdick of Chattanooga, left, and Miss Bristol Amy Catherine Flynn
- photo by Cathy Jones Roberts
Thirty years ago after her mother, Miss Tennessee 1982 Desiree Daniels of Chattanooga, won a Miss America swimsuit preliminary, her daughter Hannah Disterdick duplicated the feat on the state level at Wednesday’s night opening round of the Miss Tennessee Pageant in Jackson.
Miss Disterdick, who is the Shelby County representative, strolled confidently across the Carl Perkins Civic Center stage in a gold metallic two-piece to earn the judges’ top score.
The 23-year-old graduate of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and Soddy Daisy High School is a graduate student at David Lipscomb University in Nashville seeking her masters in exercise science.
Miss Bristol Amy Flynn, who was a top 50 finalist on the seventh season of American Idol, won the talent preliminary with her rendition of “I’ll Stand by You.”
Preliminaries will continue on Thursday and Friday leading up to the Saturday finale when Miss Tennessee 2011 Erin Hatley crowns her successor. The pageant is being webcast at www.livestream.com/eplustv6.