It is every beauty queen's nightmare. She is crowned in a gala ceremony only to learn later there's been a mistake. A balloting error. Someone else won.
It happened to Iliana Pruneda. The 20-year-old was crowned Miss Moses Lake 1994 on Saturday. On Monday, she was dethroned."We are absolutely heartsick that the mixup has occurred," pageant director Mary Ellen Breeden said Wednesday.
Rick Honsowetz, a partner at accounting firm LeMaster and Daniels, which tabulated the pageant results, said the error occurred because the names and identification numbers of contestants Pruneda and Stephanie Hill were reversed on the judges' ballots and the auditor's tally sheet.
"The scores were tabulated correctly, but unfortunately in the wrong order," Honsowetz said.
"I hope people understand. It was a terrible mistake, but it was an innocent error."
Pageant organizers announced the error publicly Tuesday and awarded the title to Hill, 19, a freshman at Big Bend Community College.
Hill had finished third Saturday, behind Pruneda and first runner-up Jamie Moberg, a senior at Moses Lake High. Moberg's status is unchanged.
"Iliana is devastated," said her mother, Graciela Pruneda.
"We know this is hurtful, but we had to do what is right. If our ethics aren't intact, then our program is not worth a hill of beans," Breeden said.
She said Pruneda will be allowed to keep the $1,300 scholarship she won Saturday night.
Hill will go on to represent Moses Lake at the Miss Washington Pageant.
"I am very excited to represent Moses Lake," Hill said.
Moses Lake is a city of 11,000 people about 100 miles southwest of Spokane.