Miss Illinois Katherine Shindle was crowned Miss America 1998 on Saturday night as the ratings-starved pageant sought to lure back viewers by shedding traditions and including two-piece swimsuits for the first time in 50 years.
The first runner-up was Miss North Carolina Michelle Warren and the second runner-up was Miss Mississippi Myra Barginear. Miss Arizona Stacey Momeyer and Miss California Rebekah Ann Keller rounded out the top five.Shindle, a 20-year-old aspiring actress who works as a janitor at a dance studio in exchange for lessons, was among five of 10 semifinalists who chose to wear two-piece suits.
The raven-haired 5-foot-11 senior at Northwestern University hugged Warren and broke into tears when host John Callahan announced her name at the end of the nationally televised 77th annual Miss America pageant.
Miss America 1997 Tara Dawn Holland put the rhinestone crown on her head, and she started to her walk down the runway as Holland sang "There She Is."
Shindle, of nearby Moorestown, majors in theater and sociology and wants to act on Broadway. She sang "Don't Rain On My Parade" for her talent offering. She graduated from Bishop Eustace Preparatory School in Pennsauken in 1994 and was a classmate of Miss New Jersey Kathy Nejat.
She is in line for a $40,000 scholarship and more than $100,000 in appearance fees during her 20,000-mile-a-month national speaking tour.
By far the most anticipated change was the one involving swimsuits.
The 51 contestants had the choice of wearing either one- or two-piece suits. The only other time Miss America bared her midriff was in 1947, when all the women wore identical two-piece suits. That was before the television age, however.