Miss USA 2017

Miss USA 2017 was the 66th edition of the Miss USA pageant, held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 14, 2017.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

Miss USA 2017
Kára McCullough, Miss USA 2017
Date	May 14, 2017
Presenters	Terrence J Julianne Hough Ashley Graham
Entertainment	Brett Eldredge Pitbull Cirque du Soleil (Michael Jackson: One)
Venue	Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas, Nevada
Broadcaster	Fox (KVVU-TV) Azteca (KHDF-CD)
Entrants	51
Placements	10
Withdrawals	Miss 52 USA
Winner	Kára McCullough District of Columbia
Congeniality	Bayleigh Dayton (Missouri) and Mikaela Shaw (Wyoming)
← 2016 2018 →

Deshauna Barber of the District of Columbia crowned her successor Kára McCullough, also of the District of Columbia, at the end of the event. This was District of Columbia's fourth Miss USA title, and also this was the first time since 2008 to have a second consecutive African Americans have been crowned.^[9] McCullough represented the United States at the Miss Universe 2017 competition, placed in the top 10. This is the first back to back win for a state at Miss USA since Texas won the crown in 1988 and 1989.

Background

Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, the host venue of Miss USA 2017 competition.

Selection of participants

Delegates from 50 states and the District of Columbia were selected in state pageants began in July 2016 and ended in February 2017. The first state pageant was Florida, held on July 16, 2016, and the final pageant was Alaska, held on February 4, 2017; eight of them were former Miss Teen USA state winners, three of them were former Miss America state titleholders and one of them was a former Miss America's Outstanding Teen state titleholder.

One state titleholder was appointed as replacement after the original titleholder was unable to compete. Génesis Dávila was the original winner of Miss Florida USA 2017, she was disqualified shortly after winning the title and was revealed she hired professional makeup artists instead by to do herself. She was replaced by Linette De Los Santos, the first runner-up of Miss Florida USA 2017 pageant. Dávila would later win the title the following year and competed in Miss USA 2018.^[10]

Results

Miss USA 2017 results.

Placement[11]	Contestant
Miss USA 2017	District of Columbia – Kára McCullough
1st Runner-Up	New Jersey – Chhavi Verg
2nd Runner-Up	Minnesota – Meridith Gould
Top 5	Illinois – Whitney Wandland  South Carolina – Megan Gordon
Top 10	Alaska – Alyssa London  California – India Williams  Missouri – Bayleigh Dayton  New York – Hannah Lopa  Tennessee – Allee-Sutton Hethcoat

Awards

Award	Contestant
Miss Congeniality	Missouri – Bayleigh Dayton Wyoming – Mikaela Shaw[12]

Pageant

Preliminary competition

Prior to the final competition, the delegates compete in the preliminary competition, which involves private interviews with the judges and a presentation show where they compete in swimsuit and evening gown. It was held on May 11, 2017 on the official Miss USA YouTube channel and was hosted by Entertainment reporter and Miss Wisconsin USA 2009 Alex Wehrley and Deshauna Barber.^[13][14][15]

Judges

• Halima Aden – Somali-American model and first woman to compete in a Miss USA state pageant wearing a hijab and burkini
• Maura McGreevy – IMG corporate community
• Carole Gist – Miss USA 1990
• Nancy Lublin – CEO of Crisis Text Line
• Brook Lee – Miss USA 1997 and Miss Universe 1997
• Nick Light – Vice president of Sony Music and Warner Bros. Records
• Vanessa Gringer – Director of business development at IMG

Finals

For the first time since 2003, the number of finalists decreased to 10 from 15 in the previous year. The top 10 finalists compete in both swimsuit and evening gown, while the top 5 are in a qualifying question, and the final 3 are subjected in the final question round and a final runway, the winner is decided by a panel of judges.

Judges

• Halima Aden – Somali-American model and first woman to compete in a Miss USA state pageant wearing a hijab and burkini
• Carson Kressley – TV personality, style expert, fashion designer and author
• Brook Lee – Miss USA 1997 and Miss Universe 1997
• Nancy Lublin – Founder of Dress for Success
• Jeannie Mai – Style expert, philanthropist, and co-host of The Real
• Janet Mock – Author, television host and advocate

Contestants

Contestant stats provided via the Miss Universe Organization.^[16]

State/district	Name	Age[17][18]	Hometown[17][18]	Placement	Notes
Alabama	Baylee Smith[19]	20	Tuscaloosa
Alaska	Alyssa London[20]	27	Anchorage	Top 10	First Tlingit Miss Alaska USA[21]
Arizona	Tommy Lynn Calhoun[22]	27	Tucson
Arkansas	Arynn Johnson[23]	20	Hot Springs		Previously Miss Arkansas Teen USA 2015
California	India Williams[24]	20	Lafayette	Top 10
Colorado	Sabrina Janssen	21	Denver
Connecticut	Olga Litvinenko[25]	27	Greenwich		Previously Miss Connecticut Teen USA 2007[26]
Delaware	Mia Jones[27]	21	Bear		Previously Miss Delaware Teen USA 2014
District of Columbia	Kára McCullough	25	Washington, D.C.	Miss USA 2017
Florida	Linette De Los Santos[10]	25	Miami
Georgia	DeAnna Johnson[28]	21	Hazlehurst		Top 10 finalist on season eight of The Voice[28]
Hawaii	Julie Kuo	23	Honolulu
Idaho	Cassie Lewis[29]	26	Moscow
Illinois	Whitney Wandland[30]	25	Chicago	Top 5	Chicago Bulls Luvabull
Indiana	Brittany Winchester[31]	27	Indianapolis
Iowa	Kelsey Weier[32]	26	West Des Moines		Contestant on season 24 of The Bachelor and season 7 of Bachelor in Paradise
Kansas	Catherine Carmichael	26	Manhattan		Previously Miss Kansas World America 2015
Kentucky	Madelynne Myers[33]	22	Louisville
Louisiana	Bethany Trahan[34]	21	Lake Charles
Maine	Brooke Harris[35]	26	Lee
Maryland	Adrianna David[36]	22	Rockville		Later Miss Maryland 2018
Massachusetts	Julia Scaparotti[37]	24	Peabody		New England Patriots Cheerleader[37] Later a contestant on Game of Clones and Beat Shazam
Michigan	Krista Ferguson[38]	24	Detroit
Minnesota	Meridith Gould[39]	22	Minneapolis	2nd Runner-up	Previously Miss South Dakota's Outstanding Teen 2012 Previously Miss South Dakota 2014
Mississippi	Ashley Hamby[40]	24	Madison
Missouri	Bayleigh Dayton[41][42]	23	Lee's Summit[42]	Top 10	First African-American Miss Missouri USA[42] Later a HouseGuest on Big Brother 20
Montana	Brooke Bezanson[43]	20	Missoula
Nebraska	Jasmine Fuelberth[44]	20	Norfolk[44]		Previously Miss Nebraska Teen USA 2013[44]
Nevada	Lauren York[45]	23	Primm
New Hampshire	Sarah Mousseau[46]	26	Portsmouth[46]
New Jersey	Chhavi Verg[47]	20	Edison	1st Runner-up
New Mexico	Ashley Mora[48]	25	Albuquerque		Previously Miss New Mexico World 2015
New York	Hannah Lopa[49]	25[49]	Spencerport[49]	Top 10
North Carolina	Katie Coble[50]	27	Charlotte		Previously Miss North Carolina Teen USA 2007
North Dakota	Raquel Wellentin[51]	24	Fargo
Ohio	Dinaleigh Baxter[52]	24	Winchester
Oklahoma	Alex Smith	20	Mooreland
Oregon	Elizabeth Denny	26	Roseburg
Pennsylvania	Cassandra Angst	23	Feasterville
Rhode Island	Kelsey Swanson	23	Cranston
South Carolina	Megan Gordon	23	North Augusta	Top 5	Later Miss South Carolina World 2019
South Dakota	Tessa Dee[53]	26	Mitchell		Previously Miss South Dakota 2013
Tennessee	Allee-Sutton Hethcoat[54]	25	Franklin	Top 10
Texas	Nancy Gonzalez	27	Freeport
Utah	Baylee Jensen	23	South Jordan		Daughter of Miss USA 1989 Gretchen Polhemus
Vermont	Madison Cota	21	Bellows Falls		Previously Miss Vermont Teen USA 2014
Virginia	Jacqueline Carroll[55]	23	Stanardsville		Previously Miss Virginia Teen USA 2010
Washington	Alex Carlson-Helo	23	Mill Creek		Previously Miss Washington Teen USA 2012
West Virginia	Lauren Roush[56]	22	Mason		Later a contestant of Are You the One? season 7 Later Miss Pennsylvania World 2019
Wisconsin	Skylar Witte[57]	19	Schofield
Wyoming	Mikaela Shaw	23	Casper		Previously Miss Wyoming 2015

International broadcasters

Television

•  United States: Fox
• Africa: DSTV Mzansi Magic (delayed broadcast)
• Asia-Pacific: Star World
•  Venezuela: Venevisión

General references

• "Miss USA 2017 Results". missuniverse.com. IMG Universe. May 15, 2017. Archived from the original on May 17, 2017. Retrieved June 12, 2017.