A TV news anchor originally from Martin is the new Miss South Dakota. Miss Missouri River Miranda O’Bryan was crowned Saturday night at South Dakota State University in Brookings.
O’Bryan will next represent South Dakota at the 96th Miss America Pageant.
Finishing as 1st Runner-Up for the second straight year was Miss Dakota Prairie Carly Goodhart.
Miss Railroad Junction Payton Steffensen was the 2nd Runner-Up with MIss Rapid City Baylee Dittman and Miss Siouxland Rio Snyder the 3rd and 4th Runners-Up.
There was extra drama for a while as one of the contestants experienced a “health event” on stage.
Pageant officials reported on Facebook that between the 3 doctors who happened to be in the house and paramedics who arrived quickly, the young woman received the best care possible – under the situation.
All pageant action stopped for about 15 minutes before she was taken to the hospital, where she was reported in stable condition.
The new Miss South Dakota is a veteran of the Miss South Dakota Pageant and an evening news anchor for KOTA and KEVN-Black Hills Fox.
A 2016 graduate of Bennett County High School, O’Bryan joined the stations after graduating in 2020 from South Dakota State with a degree in journalism and history.
O’Bryan began as a multimedia journalist, then became the morning news anchor and producer before taking the evening anchor’s chair in January.
In 2021, she was the in-game host for the minor league hockey Rapid City Rush during timeouts and intermissions. She describes her job as being the person who grabs people out of the crowd and makes them play games and answer trivia.”