SPRINGFIELD -- Four local young women will compete in the Miss Missouri USA and Miss Missouri Teen USA pageants this weekend.
Among the 142 contestants are Amber Seyer of Oran, Candice Summers of Dexter and Paige Thomason of Bernie, who will vie for the Miss Missouri USA title. Taylor DeWitt of Essex is seeking the Miss Missouri Teen USA crown.
The Presentation Show will be Saturday at 7 p.m. This is where the judges get their first look at each contestant in the evening gown and swimsuit competitions. Personal Interviews are done the following morning, and these three categories are scored equally to narrow the field down to 10-15 semifinalists in the two age divisions.
The winners in the "Miss" and "Teen" competitions will advance to the NBC-
televised Miss USA Pageant in the spring and the Miss Teen USA Pageant in the summer, respectively.
The crowning of Miss Missouri USA 2007 and Miss Missouri Teen USA 2007 will be Sunday at 7 p.m.
Miss Missouri USA 2006 is 23-year-old Kristi Capel. She is a Springfield resident who works at the local "33 News," KSPR-TV, and radio station 88.3 "The Wind" providing news and weather reports each morning A 2005 graduate of Evangel University in Springfield, Capel's parents are Bert and Patti Capel, who live in Kentucky .
Miss Missouri Teen USA 2006 is Breanna Huellinghorst, a 17-year-old junior at Fort Zumwalt West High School in O'Fallon. She plans on attending college to study broadcast journalism. Huellinghorst's parents are Charlie and Lonnie Ledbetter, of O'Fallon.