Best of Luck to the Miss Mansfield Program

**This post has been edited: Saturday, March 21, 1:36 a.m. **

Tomorrow night the Miss Mansfield program will present "Hollywood Nights," featuring Miss Ohio, Karissa Martin, Ohio's Outstanding Teen, Sarah Hider, First Runner-up to Miss Mansfield 2008, Ashley Hartman and former Miss Mansfields, Emily Cousino and Kim Baker Kanary. The amazing new Miss Mansfield website encourages the audience to be early to see the contestants arrive "in style" and be interviewed by a special surprise media guest. Each contestant has created a piece of artwork to be auctioned off; 50/50 raffle ticket and program books will also be sold.

Miss Mansfield 2008 and Top 10 Miss Ohio semifinalist, Christie Youssef, is not available to crown her successor; she will be competing in the Miss Gavilan Hills pageant, which is a preliminary to Miss California. Christie's mother and sister live in California and that is where she completed her undergraduate degree. Christie was the Fourth Runner-up to Miss California in 2004, Top 10 in 2005 and was a non-semifinalist in 2006 with the title she is vying again for Saturday night. In 2007 and 2008 she made the Top 10 at Miss Ohio through eligability as an employee of her father's medical practice here in Ohio. Christie's sister Melissa Youssef also competed at Miss California in 2006 and 2008.


Last years First Runner-up to Miss Mansfield, Ashley Hartman, is rumored to be crowning the new Miss Mansfield. Ashley was a fantastic competitor who placed consistently in Miss Ohio locals over the past two or three years. I mean no disrespect to the women who won the pageants Ashley competed in, but it is an absolute travesty that she was never awarded a crown and a great loss to the program that she is no longer competing. I usually roll my eyes at people who fail to understand the subjectivity of pageants; however, even I shout "robbed!" in the cases of Ashley Hartman and Meredith Driscoll before her, who were First Runners-up at pageant, after pageant, after pageant, after pageant...and were more consistent than women who did make it to state. I digress; best of luck to Ashley with her upcoming marriage.


Miss Mansfield will take place at Mansfield Senior High school at 7 p.m., with a pre-show at 6:30 p.m. Based on the fifteen contestants below, it looks like this will be one of the fiercest competitions of the season!

Jennifer Ciccone has a Bachelor's degree in Public Relations and Marketing from Mercyhurst College and is now a second year student at Ave Maria School of Law. She is a vocalist and her platform is "Be the Change: Be a Buddy Not a Bully." Jen recently competed at Miss Bay Village and has previously competed at Miss Ohio USA.


Ashley Warholic is the first of three contestants with a hometown advantage, not that she needs it! She has placed at locals consistently for the past two years. Ashley is a Public Relations and Marketing student at Baldwin-Wallace. Her platform is "Focus on Family, Career, Community Leaders of America" and she performs jazz ballet en pointe.

Kristy Moneysmith won a CMN Award at Miss Ohio last summer as Miss Chillicothe. She is a vocalist who studies Speech Pathology and Audiology at Ball State University. Her platform is "Mentoring Through Leadership and Role Modeling." Previously this season she was First Runner-up at Miss West Central Ohio, Second Runner-up at Miss MV/AAC/FT and she competed at Miami Valley.

Alicia Huyghe studies Biology and Dance Education at Cleveland State University. She is a tap dancer who advocates "Going Green" as her pageant platform. Click here for her blog. Last season she was Fourth Runner-up at Miss Mansfield; this season she has competed at several locals, recently placing Third Runner-up and winning a Talent award at Miss Muskingum Valley.

Ashley Miller represented Ohio at Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant in 2007. She is a vocalist who studies English at the University of Rio Grande. Her platform is "PRIDE: Encouraging youth to be proud of being drug free." Since moving up to the Miss division, she was Third Runner-up at Miss Portsmouth/Scioto Valley and competed at Miss Maple City and Miss Bay Village.

Meggie Wittman is a vocalist who studies Musical Theatre at Kent State University. Her platform is "Making Good." This is Meggie's first MOA local, but I expect her to be a tough competitor; she was First Runner-up to Ohio's Junior Miss in 2007 and Fourth Runner-up at the National All-American Miss Jr. Teen pageant in 2005. Click here to hear her sing.

Jessica Grassell is a Mansfield native. She is a dancer who plans to attend either Bowling Green State University or Ohio State University for Social Sciences. Her platform is Teenage Depression.





Hollie Hongosh was signed up, but did not compete.



Heather Wells competed at Miss Ohio last year with the title Miss Maple City. She is a dancer pursuing Broadcast Journalism at Kent State University. Her platform is "Groomed 4 success" which promotes 4-H awareness. Click here for her blog. Previously this season she was First Runner-up at Miss MV/AAC/FT, Swimsuit winner at Lake Erie and First Runner-up and Swimsuit winner at Miss Muskingum Valley; she is the reigning Trumble County Fair Queen and former First Runner-up to Miss Ohio Teen USA.

Heather Lindsay won a Swimsuit preliminary at Miss Ohio in 2007 as Miss Hamilton; she has also been a Top 15 semifinalist at Miss Ohio USA and Second Runner-up at Miss Ohio International. This vocalist studies Organizational Communication at Wright State University. Heather's platform is "Failing is not an option." Previously this pageant season she was Third Runner-up at Miss Northwestern Ohio.


Justine Boggs is a hometown contender; she is a student at Madison High School in Mansfield. She plans to study Biology at Ohio State University. Justine will perform a hip-hop cheer dance and her platform is "SILC: Ohio Statewide Independent Living."




Nanciann Strosnider is looking for her fifth local title. She has degrees in Musical Theatre and Broadcast Journalism from Elon University and works for Cumulus Media in Cincinnati. She is a vocalist who advocates fine arts education. This is her first local this season; Nanciann was in the Top 10 at Miss Ohio last summer as Miss Northern Ohio. She was Fourth Runner-up in 2007 as Miss Lake Erie, Top 10 in 2006 as Miss Portsmouth and Fourth Runner-up in 2005 as Miss South Central.

Krystle Formosa won the Americanism essay award at Miss Ohio last year as Miss South Central Ohio. She's a vocalist who often sings "Think of Me" from Phantom of the Opera. She studies Fashion Merchandising at Kent State University; her platform is "serving children for a better tomorrow." This season she's been First Runner-up and Talent winner at Ohio Valley, she competed at North Coast and Maple City and was recently in the Top 10 at Muskingum Valley.


Sherry El Sakr promotes Children's Safely Centers and studies Health Sciences at Cleveland State University. She is a dancer who competed a few weeks ago at Miss Bay Village.





Jessica Nelson, 19, is a Pre-Veterinary/Biology student at the University of Toledo. Appropriately, she advocates "the ABC's of owning a pet." 'Jess' is a vocalist who is in her second season of MAO competition.



Pageant Press:

15 vie for Miss Mansfield title Saturday night

Best of luck to everyone!