Savannah Morgan Lane, Miss Piedmont Region, powered her way to being crowned Miss Virginia 2015 Saturday night at Roanoke’s Berglund Center.
Using her platform, Power of Performance (P.O.P.), Lane thrilled the audience and the judges with a exceptionally stirring performance of the Broadway song, “Don’t Rain On My Parade.”
Lane’s rendition Saturday night during the talent portion of the pageant, after the original 27 contestants had been narrowed to eleven, was an encore to Friday night where she also won the Preliminary Talent Award.
Maybe it should have come with no surprise, considering Lane’s pageant bio included the fun fact that she is a distantly related to Elvis.
Lane won a $20,000 scholarship and will represent Virginia in The Miss America Pageant this September in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Miss Arlington, Courtney Jamison, who also performed a Broadway vocal, was first runner-up. She received $8,350 in scholarship money.
Miss Virginia Dogwood, Elizabeth Martin, also performing a musical-theater vocal, took second runner-up, good for $4,550. One of the audience favorites, Katie Pimblett, Miss Apple Blossom Festival, finished as third runner-up and $2,850 in scholarship funds, while Miss Greater Richmond, Veronica Robertson was fourth runner-up with $2,000 in scholarships.
Lane, whose hometown is Midlothian,Va., is a rising junior at the University of Virginia where she is majoring in Foreign Affairs and Mid-Eastern Studies (Arabic Language). She aspires to be a FBI agent and ultimately run for Congress.
“My defining moment was recognizing at the age of 8 that my sister was not accepted socially because of her disabilities, and working with my family to find a source of solace-which in turn brought us to the world of performing arts,” Lane noted in her bio.
Saturday night’s finale, the first not televised in recent memory, included the original eleven finalists competing in swimsuit in fitness, talent and evening wear, before a final question from prior Miss Virginia winners was asked to each of the final five contestants chosen by the judges.
Also, Saturday night, Miss Virginia Outstanding Teen 2015 was crowned, with Miss Roanoke Valley Hayley Boland winning the title along with a $2,000 award and four-year scholarship to Hollins University.
Miss Roanoke Valley Kaile Judge and Miss Bedford Haley Day each won Miss Virginia Teens In Training People’s Choice awards.
Bill Turner
