Miss Ohio Teen USA Crowned

By G. SAM PIATT
PDT Staff Writer
A blue-eyed blonde senior at Aurora High School was crowned Miss Ohio Teen USA 2009 in the pageant held Saturday afternoon at the Vern Riffe Center for the Arts on the campus of Shawnee State University. Kelsey Stevens, who won Miss Aurora Teen USA to make it to the Portsmouth pageant, kept the crown in the family so to speak. Her sister, Amanda Stevens, was Miss Ohio Teen USA 2003.

"She helped me to train," said Kelsey, who will now move on to compete next year for the title of Miss Teen USA 2010.

The competition for Miss Ohio USA 2009 was held last night at the Center but ran too late for the deadline of this morning's Portsmouth Daily Times. The winner will be featured in a story to run Monday. Stevens was crowned Miss Ohio Teen USA by last year's winner, Chelsie Folden of Wellston. The pageant drew 55 contestants from across Ohio. About 600 people, including friends and family of the contestants, bought tickets to watch the pageant.

Hollie Mauk, Miss Scioto County Teen USA, finished in the final 15. Also competing from the Portsmouth area were Alli Thompson, Miss River Days Teen USA, and Emilee Lowe, Miss Portsmouth Teen USA. After the fourth, third, and second runners-up were chosen, only Stevens and Jena Diller, Miss Columbus Grove Teen USA, stood in the center of the stage awaiting the judges' decision.

"At that point I thought, 'Oh, my gosh, it could be me,'" Stevens said. And it was. Diller was first runner-up. Second runner-up was Jessica Byington, Miss Indian Hills Teen USA; third runner-up was Alexis Laurine, Miss St. Clairsville Teen USA; and fourth runner-up was Kendall Fein, Miss Southwest Ohio USA.

Stevens said she rode a bicycle and did some weight-lifting to get in shape for the pageant. The pageants have fallen in love with Portsmouth. The 2000 pageant took place in Cincinnati, and it moved to Portsmouth the following year. It's taken place here now for eight years straight.

"It's with great pride that Scioto County and the city of Portsmouth welcome the contestants of the 2009 Miss Ohio USA and Miss Ohio Teen USA pageants, as well as their families and friends," Kim Bauer, executive director of the Portsmouth-Scioto County Visitors Bureau, said in her message in the front of the official magazine listing the contestants of both pageants. She invited visitors to stay a while and enjoy the natural beauty around the area, as well as the restaurants and shops.

"I hope you find the time to enjoy the many different activities here in Portsmouth, but most of all, please remember the warm hospitality seen on every street and neighborhood in town," Mayor James Kalb said in his message.