As I predicted, the entire top five in the Miss division had also made the top five in either Miss Iowa USA or Teen USA previously.  Miss Iowa's Outstanding 2012 Savannah Necker, semi-finalist in the Teen division in 2015, also placed first runner-up this year.  Another former Teen titleholder competing in her first Miss pageant, Miss Iowa Teen USA 2013 Morgan Kofoid, was second runner-up.  Third runner-up, for the second year in a row, went to six-time (now seven) competitor Jenny Valliere, who also won the Photogenic award.  Fourth runner-up was Lindsey Trappen, 2016 2RU & 2015 4RU.

The rest of the top twelve were Miss Iowa 2013 Nicole Kelly, 2016 fourth runner-up Brooke Stahlberg, past semi-finalists Krista Kolegraff, Martina Hoogland and Shelby Doehrmann and newcomers Andrea Ritsall (sp?) and Kaci-Ann Storm.  

In the Teen pageant, the only returning runner-up, 2016 3RU Katie Van Sloun, made the final two this year.  Newcomer Elizabeth Fuller placed second runner-up.  Second and third runners-up Jarika Eisentrager and Brina Bily had each competed the past three years.  Jarika was a semi-finalist in 2014, 2015 and 2016 and Brina was a non-finalist in 2014 and semi-finalist in 2015 and 2016.  Two more 2016 semi-finalists, Aysha De Groot ​(also the Congeniality winner) and Vanessa Worrell made the top 15 again this year, as did non-finalists Avery Boyles and Madeline Kelley.

Miss Iowa USA 2017: Kelsey Weier (1RU 16, 2RU 15) 
1RU: Savannah Necker (1RU IA TUSA 15, IA's OT 2012)
2RU: Morgan Kofoid (IA TUSA 13)
3RU: Jennifer Valliere (4RU 16, NF 15, NF 14, SF 13, 3RU 12, 2RU 11)
4RU: Lindsay Trappen (2RU 16, 4RU 15, SF MN TUSA 12)

Semi-finalists:
Shelby Doehrmann (SF 16)
Martina Hoogland  (SF IA TUSA 16, SF 15)
Nicole Kelly (Miss IA 13) 
Krista Kolegraff (SF 15, SF 14)
Andrea Rittsal (sp?) 
Brooke Stahlberg (4RU 16)
Kaci-Ann Storm 

Congeniality: Johnna Cleaver
Photogenic: Jenny Valliere

Non-finalist Interview: Johnna Cleaver
Non-finalist Swimsuit: Santana Anderson
Non-finalist Gown: Veronica Greene

Miss Iowa USA & Teen USA 2017 will be crowned this weekend, with prelims at 8pm CST Saturday night and finals at 4pm on Sunday, both webcast here.  Iowa will farewell Alissa Morrison and Hannah Bockhaus, their awesome 2016 titleholders - in my opinion both must have been extremely close to making the cut at Miss USA & Teen USA!

​There are 26 Miss contestants (click the link for photos), a 36% drop over the average of the past three years and a far cry from 2014-15 when there were 57 and 47 contestants respectively.  Numbers are similar to 2010-11 though.  Teen contestant numbers are close to the average of recent years, and have remained relatively steady since 2008.

There are three contestants with prior Miss America/MAOT/Teen USA experience in the mix for Miss Iowa USA.  Continuing the trend of there being many former Miss America titleholders competing this year, Miss Iowa 2013 Nicole Kelly will be hoping to follow her Miss America sister titleholder Tessa Dee, the newly crowned Miss SD USA, on the road to Miss USA.  Miss Iowa's Outstanding Teen 2012 Savannah Necker is also competing - she was first runner-up at Miss Iowa Teen USA 2015.  Morgan Kofoid, Miss Iowa Teen USA 2013, will be the third 2013 Teen competing this year.

All four runners-up from 2016 are also back!  Three of the four have also been finalists previously.  2016 first runner-up Kelsey Weier was 2RU in 2015; 2016 second runner-up Lindsay Trappen was 4RU in 2015; and 2016 third runner-up Jenny Valliere was a runner-up in 2011 & 2012.  Last year's fourth runner-up Brooke Stahlberg was competing for the first time.    Returning Miss & Teen semi-finalists are Shelby Doehrmann, Krista Kolegraff, Heather Swanson, Mariah Kooyman and Martina Hoogland.

Iowa has a long tradition of crowning returning runners-up (check out their state results page) - nine of the last twelve winners have been previous finalists in either Miss or Teen, seven of them multiple times.  Will that trend continue this year?

In contrast there are very few returning contestants in the Teen competition.  Last year's third runner-up Katie van Sloun is the only returning runner-up - which I'm disappointed about because last year's top five was one of the strongest of any state and I was really hoping we'd see the others back competing this year.  Returning semi-finalists are Brina Bily, Aysha De Groot, Jarika Eisentrager, and Vanessa Worrall.

Alissa Morrison is (finally!) Miss Iowa USA and Hannah Bockhaus is Miss Iowa Teen USA 2016!  Last year Alissa placed first runner-up and Hannah was second runner-up.  This was Alissa's fifth year competing, after two years as a semi-finalist from 2012-13, and two years as a runner-up from 2014-15 (second then first runner-up).  She is the fourth winner in eight years who had been a runner-up twice before she was crowned.

The 2015 first and second runners-up both moved up a place this year, with Alissa winning and 2015 second runner-up Kelsey Weier finishing as her first runner-up. Second runner-up went to Lindsay Trappen, who was fourth runner-up last year.  Third runner-up Jenny Valliere, a 2011 & 2012 runner-up who had been a non-finalist the past two years, leapfrogged back into the top five and placed third runner-up.  Fourth runner-up was Brooke Stahlberg, the only newcomer in this year's top five.

There was only one newcomer, Shelby Doehrmann, in the top ten.  The remaining four semi-finalists had competed 14 times between them!

In her first year competing, Rebekah Christiansen placed first runner-up in the Teen competition.  A second newbie, Katie Van Sloun placed third runner-up.  Second runner-up went to Baylee Drezek, who was fourth runner-up and whose performance had improved markedly from last year, I was really impressed!  Fourth runner-up Annie Moore has now made the top five three years in a row.  Both the Congeniality and Photogenic awards went to top five finalists, Photogenic was won by Hannah and the congeniality award by Annie.

Miss Iowa USA 2016: Alissa Morrison (1RU 15, 2RU  14, SF 13, SF 12)
1RU: Kelsey Weier (2RU 15)
2RU: Lindsay Trappen (4RU 15, SF MN TUSA 12)
3RU: Jennifer Valliere (NF 15, NF 14, SF 13, 3RU 12, 2RU 11)
4RU: Brooke Stahlberg 

Semi-finalists:
Shelby Doehrmann
Ashley Hoff (NF 15, SF 14, SF IL TUSA 13, NF IL TUSA 12)
Lani Kuklok (NF 14, NF 13, SF 12)
Nicole Sikkema (3RU 15, SF 14, NF 13, 4RU 12, SF 11)
Kirstie Stallman (SF 15, NF 14)

Congeniality: Miah Berka
Photogenic: Alissa Morrison 

Miss Iowa Teen USA 2016:  Hannah Bockhaus (2RU 15)
1RU: Rebekah Christiansen
2RU: Baylee Drezek (4RU 15)
3RU: Katie Van Sloun
4RU: Annie Moore (3RU 15, 2RU 14)

Semi-finalists:
Brina Bily (SF 15, NF 14)
​Ayshalynn De Groot
Jarika Eisentrager (SF 15, NF 14)
Martina Hoogland (SF 15)
Elliana Huffman
Mariah Kooyman (SF 15)​
Vanessa Worrell
Victoria Monson
Tori VanVelzen
McKenna Yordy

Congeniality: Annie Moore
Photogenic: Hannah Bockhaus

Miss Iowa USA & Teen USA 2016 will be crowned this Sunday in Newton, webcast link here.  

All four runners-up have returned in the Miss division.  Iowa has a long history of returning runners-up, with many contestants who would return year after year - check out their state results for the full list.  

2015 first runner-up Alissa Morrison and third runner-up Nikki Sikkema have been competing since 2012 and 2011 respectively.  Alissa made the top five in 2014 in addition to last year, while Nikki was a runner-up in 2012.  Another runner-up from 2012, Jenny Valliere, who has since been a semi-finalist and non-finalist, is also competing again this year; as you can see below one of the other semi-finalists in 2012 was outgoing Miss Iowa USA Taylor Even!  The other two runners-up from 2015 are Kelsey Weier, 2RU and Lindsay Trappen, 4RU.  Elizabeth Davison is competing in the USA system for the first time but is a former runner-up for Miss Iowa (America).  Just want to give a shout-out to former Miss Iowa Teen USA Dakota Crosswhite, first runner-up in that 2012 top five and a runner-up many other years as well, whose son will be born very soon.  Congratulations!

There are also an experienced runner-up competing in the Teen division - Annie Moore placed 3RU last year & 2RU in 2014.  The past two Miss Iowa Teen USAs had been runners-up twice and three times respectively, will Annie continue that trend?  2015's second runner-up Hannah Bockhaus and fourth runner-up Bailee Drezek are also back, but I'm disappointed not to see last year's 1RU and former Miss IA's Outstanding Teen Savannah Necker on the roster!  Returning semi-finalists are Brina Bily, Jarika Eisentrager, ​Martina Hoogland and Mariah Kooyman.

2016 contestant marked with asterisks:

Click "read more" or scroll below for the full list of contestants.