Competition Begins For Miss Oklahoma

The Miss Oklahoma Pageant begins Wednesday night with the first round of preliminaries at the ORU Mabee Center.

"Miss Oklahoma is one of the best pageants in the nation, actually the best pageant in the nation," said Miss America 2007 Lauren Nelson.  "It's the first night of prelims tonight so they're really looking forward to getting on stage and actually competing. It will be the first time the judges have seen them on stage so I'm sure there's a little bit of anxiety a little bit of nervousness, but excitement, absolutely!"

The 41 contestants sported their glamorous gowns as they practiced walking the runway in their evening wear.

"You don't want to trip in your high heels or your swimsuit or your evening gown. You want to make sure your talent goes well. Just typical everyday things we worry about. It's a great production. Our choreographer, Kent, does a great job every year. It's just all out and it's a great show to come watch," said contestant Lisa Rutledge from Owasso.

"People think pageant, it's beauty, they already know how to do it.  They walk around on the stage and look pretty. It's really not quite that simple. There's a lot of choreography.  There's a lot of steps.  A lot of control the way they carry their body.  The way they look at the audience," said choreographer Kent Parham.

"A ot of us used to watch Miss America on television and it's like we're living a small portion of that here in Tulsa," said contestant Tiffany Tolbert from Verdigris.

Tickets for the events can be purchased at the ORU Mabee Center.