Miss North Carolina USA Kristen Dalton bested the field of 51 beauties which was reduced to 15 finalists at the beginning of the pageant based on preliminary judging. The 15 finalists were Miss Idaho USA Melissa Weber, Miss Tennessee USA Kristen Motil, Miss Kentucky USA Maria Elizabeth Montgomery, Miss Arkansas USA Chanley Painter, Miss West Virginia USA Jessi Pierson, Miss North Carolina USA Kristen Dalton, Miss Georgia USA Kimberly Gittings, Miss Utah USA Laura Kirilova Chukanov, Miss Minnesota USA Erica Nego, Miss Texas USA Brooke Daniels, Miss South Carolina USA Stephanie Smith, Miss Connecticut USA Monica Mary Pietrzak, Miss California USA Carrie Prejean, Miss Arizona USA Alicia-Monique Blanco and Miss Virginia USA Maegan Elizabeth Phillips.
During the broadcast, viewers were able to follow the judging action during the swimsuit and gown portions of the competition as the judges' aggregate score was displayed. Miss North Carolina USA Kristen Dalton had the highest scores of the contestants in both sections with a 9.198 in swimsuit and a 9.470 in gown.
If you kept track of the judges' aggregate scores at home, then there were no surprises during each round when five contestants were shed. Of the 15 finalists, Miss Minnesota USA, Miss Georgia USA, Miss Idaho USA, Miss Georgia USA and Miss Virginia USA didn't make the cut to the final ten. In the gown round when the field was cut to five finalists, Miss Utah USA was the only of the five finalists to score below a 9.
Super cute and bewitching Miss Kentucky USA was named fourth runner-up and Miss Utah USA placed in fourth place as the third runner-up. Apparently the itnerview portion of the evening hurt Miss Kentucky a little bit as she had better swimsuit and gown scores. Miss Arizona USA placed as second runner-up with Miss California USA coming in as the first runner-up.
Miss California USA, who has a similar build and look to Miss North Carolina USA, maintained her swimsuit and gown second-place scoring during the interview portion eventhough she seemingly offended an obviously unhappy Perez Hilton who had asked her if other states should follow Vermont and allow gay marriage.
