More Miss Ohio Press

For the second year in a row, Miss Clayland crowned Miss Ohio
By Rex Huffman /The Times-Reporter

Over the years, St. Henry, a town of slightly more than 2,200 residents and located north of Dayton in Mercer County, has produced a professional baseball player and four professional football players. Teams from St. Henry High have won six state football championships, four basketball state titles and three baseball titles.

Now, the town can lay claim to another winner.

Saturday night, Erica Gelhaus, competing as Miss Clayland, won the Miss Ohio crown for 2009 and the right to move on to the Miss America Pageant in January.

“My homecoming was amazing,” said Gelhaus. “They had two fire trucks waiting for me, and they took me around town, just they like do when the basketball team wins the state championship...”

Crowning achievement

St. Henry woman wins Miss Ohio title

By Betty Lawrence / The Daily Standard

Nearly 200 residents lined the Main Street of St. Henry on Sunday evening to welcome home the newly crowned 2009 Miss Ohio, Erica Gelhaus.

Gelhaus, Celina's Miss Lake Festival 2006, won the state crown Saturday in Mansfield following several days of competition.

"I'm floating, I have been floating since I was named Miss Ohio," a beaming Gelhaus said after the hometown parade.

She doesn't remember her name actually being announced as the winner, she said, since the crowd in Mansfield's Renaissance Theatre became very loud as the crowning moment neared.

"I could just hear people screaming. It was so overwhelming," said Gelhaus, 21, the daughter of Ron and Judy Gelhaus. "It has been absolutely incredulous. I feel so blessed by my community."

A welcome home sign in the crowd read "one Reds player, four NFL players and one Miss Ohio."

Mercer County was well represented at the state contest as Miss Lake Festival 2008 Ellen Bryan competed and placed as fourth runner-up. Heather Waterman, Miss Lake Festival 2007, won the swimsuit competition in the event's preliminary competition...

..."We already have her booked to be at our Miss Lake Festival fundraiser at Bella's in July and at this year's Miss Lake Festival pageant," Celina Lake Festival Chairperson Michelle Emerine said, pointing out the local contestants in the state pageant took home at least a third of the scholarship monies offered this year....

See, I wasn't kidding in my previous post when I said it was all about the football down there! CLICK HERE for video footage of her homecoming and HERE for photos.

Erica Gelhaus wins Miss Ohio title
By Wil Vickery Jr. / Special to the Reflector

MANSFIELD - Twenty-three contestants from across the state spent the last week in Mansfield striving to claim the title of Miss Ohio 2009, but only one would finally walk away with the crown. When the fog cleared the stage, Erica Gelhaus, Miss Clayland, was the choice of the six-member judges panel.

Miss Maple City 2009, Ashleigh Lemon, was recognized with a $400 scholarship as a non-semifinalist talent winner and a $500 Paul Herlihy Spirit Award, which was selected by the hostesses and chaperones of the contestants.

Click the titles for the full stories.