Miss South Carolina wins swimsuit title at Miss America preliminaries

The national broadcast of the 95th anniversary of the 2016 Miss America competition begin at 9 p.m. Sunday, live from Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.

Fechtel was named Preliminary Fitness Swimsuit victor .

On Wednesday, Giannini, Miss New Jersey, won a $6,000 Quality of Life scholarship in recognition of her community service efforts to advance her mission.

Preliminaries for Miss America last three nights as each of the participating contestants gets a chance to present her talent and compete in swimsuit and evening gown.

Considering the backlash almost derailed her career, she expressed shock at how many people now use scandals to launch their bids for stardom.

Miss Louisiana April Nelson, 23, sang “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” from “The Sound of Music” to win the talent portion Wednesday, news website NJ.com reported. The pressures she had faced already made it worse.

“Don’t define yourself by a number on a scale”, McGuffin said.

“It took every ounce of credibility that I had and wiped it out”, Williams said.

The preliminary judges are tasked with narrowing the field from 52 to 15.

And some contestants not only pushed the envelope, they shredded it to bits.

Winners of preliminary competitions accrue points toward their final standings in the finale. “It was Miss America who’s really kind of untouched in that reality”.

She said her daughter has been busy all week with appearances, rehearsals and the pageant. Dial stood out to the judges in a group of 18 state queens who strutted their stuff in Atlantic City, N.J., for the swimsuit competition, earning the highest score.

Her next phase of competition is talent, singing “I Believe” by “American Idol” victor Fantasia Barrino.