One of my favourite sections of the site (even if I’ve never settled on the perfect name for it!), a look at all the Miss Illinois Teen USA titleholders who’ve gone on to compete at Miss USA or in other state pageants. It’s always inspiring to see where their journeys have taken them — whether they won a crown early on, competed once or twice and then hung up the heels or kept showing up year after year, showing persistence in their quest to walk the Miss USA stage.
Nine Miss Illinois Teen USA titleholders have competed at Miss USA, but the first to represent Illinois didn’t come until 2013 when Stacie Juris (2009) placed second runner-up at Miss USA. The following year she crowned her Teen successor Lexi Atkins as Miss Illiniois USA 2014! In 1984 Cherise Haugen became one of the few Miss Teen USA who had the chance to automatically compete at Miss USA.
Non-finalist
6
Cherise Haugen (1984), Terri Bollinger (1990), Anne-Marie Dixon (1995), Lacey Wilson (2002), Lexi Atkins (2010), Alex Plotz (2012)
* Where the semi-finalists are cut in multiple stages before the top 5 or 6
1984
1
Cherise Haugen (1984)
1998
1
Anne-Marie Dixon (1995)
1999
1
Terri Bollinger (1990)
Illinois
5
Stacie Juris (2009), Lexi Atkins (2010), Alex Plotz (2012), Olivia Pura (2016), Sydni Dion Bennett (2018)
Missouri
1
Terri Bollinger (1990)
Oklahoma
1
Anne-Marie Dixon (1995)
1980s
0
1990s
2
Teri Bollinger (1990), Anne-Marie Dixon (1995)
2020s
0
Winners highlighted in italics. Stats may be inaccurate, especially for the 1980s & 1990s as I am reliant on newspaper archives which do not list all contestants.
1980s
2
Dyann Lowery (1986), Kimberly Hannell (1989)
1990s
4
Teri Bollinger (1990), Anne-Marie Dixon (1995), Autumn Waterbury (1997), Nicole Manske (1998)
2000s
5
Lacey Wilson (2002), Brittany Acosta (2004), Victoria Davis (2007), Nora Downs (2008), Stacie Juris (2009)
2010s
6
Lexi Atkins (2010), Alex Plotz (2012), Grayson Hodgkiss (2013), Miranda Fenzau (2014), Olivia Pura (2016), Sydni Dion Bennett (2018)
2020s
0
Illinois, California, Georgia, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
Winner
8
Teri Bollinger (1990), Anne-Marie Dixon (1995), Lacey Wilson (2002), Stacie Juris (2009), Lexi Atkins (2010), Alex Plotz (2012), Olivia Pura (2016), Sydni Bennett (2018)
3rd runner-up
1
Brittany Acosta (2004)
4th runner-up
1
Dyann Lowery (1986)
Semi-finalist
3
Autumn Waterbury (1997), Victoria Davis (2007), Nora Downs (2008)