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 Rhode Island 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 Rhode Island Teen USA titleholders have competed at Miss USA – one of the highest numbers of any state. Shanna Moakler (1992) went on to place first runner-up at Miss USA 1995 and then assume the title after Chelsi Smith won Miss Universe. She and Claudia Jordan (1990) later went on to careers in the entertainment industry. From 2008-2010 there was a rare occurance where three consecutive RI teens won Miss titles in the same order. Amy Diaz (2001) later won The Amazing Race.
In 2012 Tiondra Martinez (2008) and Talia Turco (2009) finished first and second runner-up respectively to future Miss Universe Olivia Culpo and Dominique Lee (2005) also competed for the first time.
In the 2020s Elaine Collado and Mary Malloy both won, close to ten years after their Teen titles.
1st runner-up
1
Shanna Moakler (1992)
Semi-finalist
1
Claudia Jordan (1990)
Top 15/16/20*
1
Amy Diaz (2001)
Non-finalist
6
RayeAnne Johnson (1987), Kristen Luneberg (1998), Amy Diaz (2001), Alysha Castonguay (2002), Kristina Primavera (2003), Elaine Collado (2013), Mary Malloy (2015)
* Where the semi-finalists are cut in multiple stages before the top 5 or 6
1994
1
RayeAnne Johnson (1987)
1995
1
Shanna Moakler (1992)
1997
1
Claudia Jordan (1990)
2016
1
Kristen Luneberg (1998)
2016
1
Amy Diaz (2001)
2009
1
Alysha Castonguay (2002)
Rhode Island
7
RayeAnne Johnson (1987), Claudia Jordan (1990), Amy Diaz (2001), Alysha Castonguay (2002), Kristina Primavera (2003), Elaine Collado (2013), Mary Malloy (2015)
New York
1
Shanna Moakler (1992)
North Carolina
1
Kristen Luneberg (1998)
1980s
1
1990s
3
Claudia Jordan (1990), Shanna Moakler (1992), Kristen Luneberg (1998)
2000s
3
Amy Diaz (2001), Alysha Castonguay (2002), Kristina Primavera (2003)
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
1
RayeAnne Johnson (1987)
1990s
6
Claudia Jordan (1990), Shanna Moakler (1992), Alicia Currier (1993), Nicole Coletti (1994), Lauren Alviti (1997), Kristen Luneberg (1998)
2000s
7
Amy Diaz (2001), Alysha Castonguay (2002), Kristina Primavera (2003), Dominique Lee (2005), Rochelle Rose (2007), Tiondra Martinez (2008), Talia Turco (2009)
2010s
5
Erica Wright (2010), Lindsey Bucci (2011), Elaine Collado (2013), Mary Malloy (2015), Alexa Papigiotis (2017)
2020s
0
Rhode Island, California, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Virginia
