A new Miss South Dakota will be crowned tonight at South Dakota State University in Brookings and the frontrunner is 24-year old Miss Dakota Plains Kaitlin O’Neill of Groton.
O’Neill won the preliminary talent competition and a $1,000 scholarship Thursday night with a contemporary ballet, then claimed last night’s Onstage Interview/Social Impact Initiative and a $500 scholarship.
       22-year old Miss Missouri Valley Hunter Widvey of Rapid City claimed Friday talent honors with a vocal solo while 23-year old Miranda O’Bryan of Martin, Miss Rolling Plains, won Thursday’s Onstage Interview.Â
There were no local, state or national pageants in the Miss America system last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, so the term of Miss South Dakota 2019 Amber Hulse of Hot Springs was extended an additional 12 months.
There are 15 Miss South Dakota competitors hoping to succeed Hulse. Three are from pageants in Hot Springs: 18-year old Miss Fall River Balloon Festival Breanna Remington of Hot Springs, 21-year old Miss Hot Springs Calli Mah of Mitchell, and 19-year old Miss Christmas in the Hills Megan Clark of Huron.
This year’s state pageant theme is C’Mon Get Happy. The finals are tonight at 5:00 MT and information on the livestream is available at http://bit.ly/MissSDlive.
The new Miss South Dakota Teen will be crowned this afternoon, also in Brookings.
There are 12 competitors including 14-year old Miss Fall RIver Balloon Festival OT Karina Novotny of Hot Springs and 18-year old Hayden Widvey of Rapid City, Miss Hot Springs’ Outstanding Teen.