Miss USA 2002

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Miss USA 2002
Shauntay Hinton of District of Columbia, Miss USA 2002
Date	March 1, 2002
Presenters	Deion Sanders Ali Landry
Entertainment	Sara Evans
Venue	Genesis Convention Center, Gary, Indiana
Broadcaster	CBS, WBBM-TV
Entrants	51
Placements	12
Winner	Shauntay Hinton District of Columbia
← 2001 2003 →

Miss USA 2002 was the 51st Miss USA pageant, held at Genesis Convention Center in Gary, Indiana on March 1, 2002. The event was won by Shauntay Hinton of the District of Columbia, who was crowned by outgoing queen Kandace Krueger of Texas.^[1] The host was Deion Sanders.^[1]

This was the last Miss USA show was aired on CBS. Beginning with Miss USA 2003, NBC assumed co-ownership of the pageant along with Donald Trump, and as a result began televising the pageant.

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The Miss USA 2002 delegates were:

• District of Columbia wins competition for the second time. This became the first win for the District of Columbia in 38 years, when Bobbie Johnson won Miss USA 1964.
• Kansas earns the 1st runner-up position for the second time. The last time it placed this was in 1996.
• Indiana earns the 2nd runner-up position for the second time. The last time it placed this was in 1966. Also had its highest placement since 1981.
• Minnesota earns the 3rd runner-up position for the first time and reaches its highest placement since 1995.
• Connecticut earns the 4th runner-up position for the first time and reaches its highest placement since 1966.
• States that placed in semifinals the previous year were District of Columbia, Rhode Island and Texas. All of them made their second consecutive placement.
• Alabama, Kansas, New York and South Carolina last placed in 2000.
• California and Indiana last placed in 1999.
• Louisiana last placed in 1998.
• Minnesota last placed in 1995.
• Connecticut last placed in 1969.
• Georgia breaks an ongoing streak of placements since 2000.
• Tennessee breaks an ongoing streak of placements since 1999.
• Michigan breaks an ongoing streak of placements since 1998.

Controversy erupted over the choice of swimsuits for the swimsuit final competition. Six of the 51 delegates chose an all-red one-piece, while the rest wore a two-piece option. The New York Post reported one contestant, Tarah Marie Peters of California, had points deducted by one judge because of her choice of a one-piece suit, thus eliminating her from the top five contestants. She was the only one of the top twelve who wore the one-piece option.^[3]

Ten delegates had previously competed in either the Miss Teen USA or Miss America pageants, including the two Triple Crown winners who had competed in both. One delegate later won a Miss America state title.

Delegates who had previously held a Miss Teen USA state title were:

• Kelly Lloyd (Indiana) - Miss Indiana Teen USA 1993 (1st runner-up at Miss Teen USA 1993)
• Nicole Bigham (Pennsylvania) - Miss Pennsylvania Teen USA 1994
• Allison Alderson (Tennessee) - Miss Tennessee Teen USA 1994 (Top 6 finalist at Miss Teen USA 1994)
• Melana Scantlin (Missouri) - Miss Missouri Teen USA 1995 (Top 12 semi-finalist at Miss Teen USA 1995)
• Tara Tucker (Alabama) - Miss Alabama Teen USA 1997
• Alita Dawson (Connecticut) - Miss Connecticut Teen USA 1997
• Elizabeth Arnold (Kentucky) - Miss Kentucky Teen USA 1998
• Christine Olejniczak (Alaska) - Miss Alaska Teen USA 2000

Delegates who had previously held a Miss America state title or would later win one were:

• Keely Gaston (Colorado) - Miss Colorado 1998
• Heather Soriano (Mississippi) - Miss Mississippi 1999
• Kelly Lloyd (Indiana) - Miss Indiana 1999 (Albert A. Marks Jr. Interview award)
• Allison Alderson (Tennessee) - Miss Tennessee 1999
• Audra Paquette (New Hampshire) - Miss New Hampshire 2005

Delegates who participate in other beauty pageant later are:

• Brooke Elizabeth Angus (Vermont) - Representative of United States in Miss World 2006.

• Tom Brady
• Joyce Brothers
• Willa Ford
• Jermaine Jackson
• Kim Powers
• Audrey Quock
• Victor Williams
• Nikki Ziering

• Miss Universe 2002

• Miss USA official website Archived 2006-09-18 at the Wayback Machine