Author: Amy Kuperinsky / Source: NJ.com
Miss Indiana, Lydia Tremaine, took home a talent award on Friday at the final night of Miss America preliminary competition in Atlantic City. But when she started competing for her state title, she was told she could never even make it that far.
Tremaine received the honor, which comes with $2,000, for singing Frank Sinatra’s “That’s Life.
”One of her favorite lyrics: “Each time I find myself flat on my face/I pick myself up and get back in the race.”
“It’s all about trying again when you fail,” she said of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ song after the pageant, which continues with the televised final at Boardwalk Hall on Sunday night.
“I was told I could never be Miss Indiana because of my size,” she said.
— Miss Indiana (@MissAmericaIN)
Tremaine, 20, who hails from Kendallville, Indiana, is an education major at Western Governors University in Salt Lake City, Utah. She’s one contestant in the 2019 pageant who rejoiced upon hearing that Miss America would drop its swimsuit competition. No fan of walking the stage in a bathing suit — though she did for several years — Tremaine said it was a relief that the pressure to change her body and become thinner would no longer be part of her pageant experience.
“I’ve had a great fitness journey in my time competing,” said Tremaine, who lost 40 pounds in the process and preferred to wear one-piece swimsuits when competing.
Gretchen Carlson, the chairwoman of the Miss America board, came under fire after announcing the pageant’s decision to relegate swimsuits to the past after nearly 100 years of competition. Representatives of 46 state pageants (51 contestants will compete) and 23 former Miss Americas have called for the resignation of Carlson and pageant CEO Regina Hopper after claiming they misled pageant board members about why they had to vote in favor of ditching the swimsuit strut.
The host of Friday’s preliminary competition, Susan Powell, Miss America 1981,…
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