Ali Rogers was named 1st Runner-Up Saturday night in the Miss America Pageant. A large group of family and friends from Laurens County traveled to Las Vegas to support the 20-year-old Laurens woman as she represented South Carolina in the national pageant. Many more people, businesses and organizations were showing support back home.
Ali racked up a lot of points through the various competitions by placing in the upper tier of preliminary competitions.
She came in 2nd place Monday night in Monday night competition, right behind Miss Oklahoma. She took 1st place in the Lifestyle and Physical Fitness Preliminary competition Tuesday night, wining a $1,000 Amway scholarship.
The winner of the Miss America title was Miss New York, 23-year-old Mallory Hagen of Brooklyn. She wins a $50,000 college scholarship. Hagen’s platform was to address Child Sexual Abuse.
Second runner-up behind Ali Rogers, was Miss Oklahoma, Alicia Clifton.
Prior to winning the Miss South Carolina pageant last year, Ali Rogers was Miss Teen South Carolina in 2009.