A bewitching end to Miss Florida preliminaries

You could say her singing was bewitching.

Kalea Leverette, Miss River City of Jacksonville, soared thanks to rendition of the Broadway musical song “Defying Gravity,” winning the talent portion of Thursday night’s last preliminary. Taking the lifestyle, fitness and swimsuit category was Miss Kissimmee, Anastasia Lusnia.

While winning the preliminaries in their divisions doesn’t guarantee them entry into the top-10 only tiara round on Saturday, it does ensure the winners $300 in scholarship funds. This is the 82nd year for the Miss Florida Scholarship Pageant and its second year in Lakeland. The winner of the pageant will go on to represent Florida in the Miss America Pageant.

Tomorrow night, the next generation of Miss America hopefuls will take to the stage when the Miss Florida’s Outstanding Teen Scholarship Pageant preliminary event takes over the Youkey Theatre. Thirty young ladies from around the state of Florida will compete for the title held last year by Anjelica Jones. The event starts at 4 p.m.

On Saturday, the top contestants from the teen pageant as well as the Miss Florida pageant compete for the title. The teen finals start at 4 p.m., while the crowning evening for the Miss Florida Scholarship Pageant starts at 7:30 p.m.

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