Miss Chattanooga Sarah Harris
photo by Matt Boyd
Miss Chattanooga Sarah Harris twirled her way to a Talent Award at Friday's final round of Miss Tennessee Pageant preliminaries in Jackson.
The former featured twirler for the University of Oklahoma's Pride of Oklahoma marching band electrified the Carl Perkins Civic Center audience with her energetic baton and gymnastics routine to "When Love Takes Over" when she twirled three batons simultaneously and ended with an empathic split on the runway. The 2016 OU graduate with a degree in advertising works at her family owned Knoxville Wholesale Furniture. Ms.
Harris' platform is No Kid Hungry where she is a member of the organization's social media council that is dedicated to reducing food insecurity among the nation's youth.
Miss Tennessee 2017 will be crowned late Saturday night after the top 16 of the 36 local representatives compete in the finals. The winner will receive a $13,000 scholarship, serve as the Governor's spokesperson for Character Education and as the state's Goodwill Ambassador for Children's Miracle Network. She will also be the state's representative at September's Miss America Pageant. The finals will be web streamed at www.eplustv6.com starting at 9 p.m.
Miss Chattanooga representatives have finished in the top five six of the last seven years at the state level. The Friday swimsuit preliminary winner was Miss Lexington Caty Davis who as Miss Chattanooga 2016 was the first runner-up to the outgoing Miss Tennessee Grace Burgess.
Miss Chattanooga Sarah Harris, right, and Miss Lexington and former Miss Chattanooga Caty Davis were Friday's preliminary winners at the Miss Tennessee Pageant receiving the Talent & Swimsuit Awards respectively.
photo by Wendy King