Stacy James, Miss Lake O' The Pines,
was crowned Saturday night as Miss Texas 2001.
James, a recent political science major at Baylor University,
will compete this fall in the Miss America Pageant. Her talent was
singing, and her platform was "Alzheimer's Awareness."
James, 22, of Texarkana, said her biggest accomplishment was
graduating from Baylor with honors and being accepted to law
school.
First runner-up was Brooke Staudt, Miss Amarillo-Area, a human
development major at Texas Tech University. Second runner-up was
Lisa Dalzell, Miss Humble-Kingwood, a journalism major at Texas A&M
University.
Third runner-up was Melissa Pritchett, Miss Montgomery County, a
musical theater major at Sam Houston State University; and fourth
runner-up was Cindy Elizondo, Miss White Settlement, a biomedical
science major at Texas A&M University.
The five semifinalists who did not advance to the finals were
Brooke Buie, Miss Hurst-Euless-Bedford; Sunni Cranfill, Miss
Texarkana; Georgia Locke, Miss Lufkin; Alexis young, Miss Northeast
Tarrant County; and April Sigman, Miss Houston.
Forty-seven young women competed in the pageant at the Will
Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth.
The winner succeeds Miss Texas 2000 Tara Watson, a Texas
Christian University student and the former Miss
Hurst-Euless-Bedford.
The Miss America Pageant is the world's largest scholarship
program for women. In 2000, it awarded more than $30 million worth
of cash and in-kind scholarships through the national, state and
local programs.
In 2000, the Fort Worth-based Miss Texas Organization and its
local pageants provided more than $2.5 million of those in cash and
in-kind tuition scholarships. 
