Two with Goldsboro ties rise to the top in Miss NC pageant
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on June 26, 2018 5:50 AM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
Courtney Smith crowns Bailey Stamper as Miss Goldsboro 2018, in November.
Full SizeThe Miss North Carolina 2018 scholarship pageant is now in the books, as the 2018 crown went to Laura Matrazzo, Miss Metrolina, on Saturday night at Raleigh's Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts.
Forty-nine contestants competed for the precursor to Miss America. That competition will take place in September in New Jersey.
Three young women with Goldsboro ties participated in last week's preliminary events, with two of them advancing to semi-finalist status. These included Miss Goldsboro 2018 Bailey Stamper, Miss Charlotte Courtney Smith and Miss Greensboro Karen Stallings.
The event, broadcast live on ABC 11, kicked off with a quick introduction of the contestant roster, followed by announcement of the Top 15.
Making that list were Smith and Stallings, both of whom had found themselves in that position on the same stage in 2017.
Stallings, from Fremont, is a 2011 graduate of Charles B. Aycock High School and completed her bachelor's degree at East Carolina University in 2016. She spent the past year as a ninth-grade English teacher at CBA. She competed last year as Miss Spivey's Corner.
Smith, from Mint Hill, had reigned as Miss Goldsboro 2017. Now a student at ECU, she came closer to the state crown last year than many realized when that telecast aired.
Her name had been announced as second runner-up but less than 24 hours later, officials of the Miss North Carolina organization said there had been a mistake. The names of the first and second runners-up had been switched on the announcement card, with the mistake attributed to an error by an independent auditor. She then took over as first runner-up.
During this year's preliminary nights of competition, Smith received a lifestyle and fitness award, and Stallings was presented with a 2018 Teaching Fellows scholarship.
As the two-hour broadcast continued, the Top 15 participated in the swimsuit judging before changing into their talent costumes. The field was winnowed down to the Top 10 as the hosts called out one by one those who would be performing their talents.
Smith made it to the Top 10 and then Top 5 before finding herself in the second runner-up spot again.
Other finalists were Miss Spivey's Corner Madison Bryant, first runner-up; Miss Greater Sampson County Grace Ann Carroll, third runner-up; and Miss Greater Carolina Autumn Hubbard, fourth runner-up.
Stallings is the daughter of Barry and Olivia Stallings, and the granddaughter of Sankie Stallings of Mount Olive. She has also mentioned in interviews how proud she is of her great-grandmother, Miriam Creech, who was the first Miss Goldsboro, in 1932.
Stamper is also a graduate of CBA and just completed her freshman year studying marketing at ECU.
Her parents are Thayer and Amy Stamper.