MORGANTOWN — Five minutes into her reign as Miss West Virginia USA 2019, and Haley Holloway was still shaking her newly crowned head as she stood on the stage at the WVU Creative Arts Center Sunday night.
That’s because five seconds into her reign, she actually took a couple of faltering steps back after realizing she was the one.
“Yeah, that was funny,” the 23-year-old from Morgantown said. “I was just thinking, ‘Now is that what I actually heard? Did they really say that?’”
To all who know her, “faltering” is a condition that normally doesn’t apply to Holloway.
As a teen, she set a state high-jump record as a freshman at her alma mater of Morgantown High School.
She topped that feat by making it all to way to second runner-up in the 2013 Miss Teen USA pageant in Tulsa, Okla.
After MHS and the Miss Teen USA run, it was New York City and film school.
These days, she’s a busy entrepreneur in Morgantown who is pursuing an online marketing degree while angling for a job in sports journalism.
“I’d like to be a sideline reporter,” she said.
Meanwhile, she and her fellow contestants for Miss West Virginia USA and Miss West Virginia Teen USA were center stage at Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, in WVU’s Creative Arts Center.
Under the lights, contestants donned evening gowns and swimwear — active wear for the Miss contestants — while taking on the component of the competition that could set an ungloved palm in the Arctic Circle to sweating: The interview competition.
Contestants addressed everything from the opioid crisis to how one should conduct oneself on social media.
It’s all about personal empowerment, said Randy Sanders, the state director for the pageants, and Brennah Groves, who was presented the crown of Miss West Virginia Teen USA for the coming year, most definitely agreed.
“Being here has done amazing things for my confidence,” said the 17-year-old from Summersville, who is a senior at Nicholas County High School.
Both she and Holloway said they are happy for the opportunity to promote their many platforms across West Virginia and the nation.
Brennah is a Make-A-Wish booster. The organization that grants wishes to youngsters who are chronically or terminally ill is dear to her, as she has a family member in such circumstances.
Holloway will advance healthy nutrition and lifestyles, particularly since her grandmother died of complications from diabetes.
After a year of personal appearances, the royalty will represent West Virginia in the national Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageant. Organizers have yet to set the date and location of those pageants.
The new Miss West Virginia Teen USA, meanwhile, knows exactly where she’ll be after that: Morgantown and WVU, where she’ll major in biology and pre-medicine. She plans on becoming a dermatologist.
She wasn’t planning on becoming a “pageant queen,” she said, chuckling, as she stood under the lights on the concert theatre stage for selfies and hugs from family and friends after the pageant wound down.
“I actually haven’t done that many pageants,” she said.
“I always did sports in school — volleyball and softball. I was surprised I got this far in the pageant.”
Tweet @DominionPostWV. Email jbissett@dominionpost.com.
