Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, wearing a hot
pink strapless dress as she deftly fielded the interview portion of the
competition by saying the country needed to improve race relations to
beat out 50 other contestants.After weeks of controversy
generated by pageant co-owner Donald Trump's critical comments about
Mexican immigrants, the pageant passed with no mention of the real
estate mogul who was not in attendance.
Instead, the focus was on women like Jordan and others who'd worked hard to get to the stage.
The 26-year-old winner was
followed by first runner-up Ylianna Guerra, 22, of Texas, and second
runner-up Anea Garcia, 20, of Rhode Island. They were followed by
25-year-old Miss Nevada Brittany McGown as third runner-up and then Miss
Maryland Mame Adjei, 23, rounding out the top five.
Jordan,
who takes over from 2014 winner Nia Sanchez of Nevada, was a standout
during the interview segment when each contestant was asked two
questions and given 30 seconds to answer each. When asked what the next
big issue is that the U.S. needs to tackle, she said it was race
relations.
"We have not solved this issue," Jordan said. "We really need to work on being an accepting society."
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