Miss Orlando Courtney Sexton was named Miss Florida 2016 Saturday night during an event at the Lakeland Center’s Youkey Theatre.
Sexton, of Starke, beat out 47 other women and will now compete in the Miss America 2017 pageant in September. She won the “lifestyle, fitness and swimsuit” preliminary competition earlier in the week.
First runner up was Miss Daytona Beach Lindsay Bettis of St. Augustine with Miss Winter Park Victoria Humphrey of Palm Harbor, Miss Miami Beach Kayla Foriere of Jupiter and Miss Orange County Taylor Tyson of Jupiter rounding out the top 5.
Sexton, 23, is seeking a health administration master’s at UCF. She competed as Miss Daytona Beach in the 2015 Miss Florida pageant and finished in the top 10. The former Alpha Delta Pi chapter president at UCF wins an $18,000 scholarship with the Miss Florida title. She will now take part in the Miss America pageant that will crown a new victor on Sept. 11 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Her talent is dance.
In her questionairre, she cited the death of sorority sister Kaleigh Ottis, who died in a car acccident in 2013, as a defining moment in her life.
“Dealing with the loss of my best friend and little sister changed my outlook on life and made me a person who values friendship, time, goal setting, saying ‘I love you,’ and living everyday like it is my last,” Sexton wrote.
Anjelica Jones of Orlando won the award for 2016 Miss Florida Outstanding Teen earlier Saturday evening. Her prize was a $1,800 scholarship.
Preliminary competitions began Tuesday with talent awards going to Miss Orange County Taylor Tyson of Jupiter and Miss University of Florida Savannah Judkins of Fort Walton Beach. Sexton won the lifestyle and fitness award.
Wednesday preliminary awards went to Miss Daytona Beach Lindsay Bettis of St. Augustine for the fitness category and Miss Pasco County Olivia Butler of Tampa won for the talent category. Thursday’s preliminary awards went to Miss Nature Coast Sara Zeng of Brooksville for talent and the fitness category win was a tie between Miss Winter Park Victoria Humphrey of Palm Harbor and Miss Suncoast Brittany Johnson of Warner Robins, Georgia.
Last year’s Miss Florida MaryKatherine Fechtel of Leesburg placed in the top 10 of the Miss America pageant. Unlike the Miss USA pageant, the Miss Florida and Miss America pageants feature a talent competition.
Most regional pageants are open, and don’t require contestants to be from the area, which is why Miss Orange County is from Jupiter and Miss Orlando is from Starke.
Several other women from Central Floridians competed this year. Miss South Florida Lexie George, 19, is from Oviedo. She’s a biomedical science major at USF whose talent is piano. Miss Gainesville Eugenia Akins, 21, is from Kissimmee. She is a sociolgy major that attends the University of Florida. Her talent is the flute. Miss Apopka Arianna Beyer, 21, is from Mount Dora. She plays clarinet and received a Bachelor’s of music from the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester. and Miss Manatee River Abigail Dawn Cunnane, 20, is from Orlando, who is a political science major at UCF whose talent is classical vocals.
This was the 81st Miss Florida pageant. Only two Miss Floridas have won Miss America. The previous winners from the Sunshine State were Eva Leanza Cornett in 1992 and UCF grad Ericka Dunlap in 2004.
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