ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 28, 1996 TAG: 9606280068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALESSANDRA SOLER STAFF WRITER
After a hectic day of rehearsals that ran more than an hour behind schedule, all 24 contestants vying to be crowned this year's Miss Virginia rushed up the elevators at the Hotel Roanoke, picked up their boxed dinners of fried chicken and potato salad and frantically made themselves up for the first night of the three-day beauty contest.
Thursday was the opening of the 43rd annual pageant, held at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium. Contestants Nita Booth and Paula Dyanne Capps walked away as winners of the first half of the talent and swimsuit competitions, respectively.
Nita Booth, Miss Chesapeake, sang Patti Labelle's "There's A Winner In You." Booth, a 17-year-old freshman at Hampton University, was the final performer in Thursday's talent competition. She's been singing since age 3, and the veteran performer's ease and stage presence captivated both the judges and audience members.
"I first heard the song when I was 8 years old, and it was very inspirational," she said. "God has done so much for me in my life, and that's how I know that I'm a winner."
Booth said she grew up listening to her family sing popular gospel and rhythm and blues songs, and she attributes her success in the field to the discipline instilled by her vocal instructor, Emma Harris of Norfolk. "She was always on top of me to perfect my diction, and I have to thank her for it."
Booth also was a Mousketeer on the Mickey Mouse Club for four years and said it helped her deal with the jitters of performing in front of a large group of people.
But experience isn't enough during the nervous tension of the swimsuit competition. Capps, Miss Southside Virginia, made sure she was ready by working out seven days a week in preparation for the event.
Capps, a 5-foot-8, 119-pound olive-skinned beauty, wore a coral swimsuit during the competition, which combined with the evening wear portion accounts for 15 percent of the total score.
"This is well worth the workouts," she said. "Let me tell you that the ab roller does the job. I worked out at the field house at my old high school and basically concentrated on lower- and upper-body exercises."
Even though the beginning of the evening was rushed, contestants said this was to their advantage. Larniece Laneer McKoy, Miss Northern Virginia, said there isn't enough time to dwell on the competition. "We have so many things to do that we can't sit and think about it," she said. "I was really nervous during my interview [on Wednesday,] but once I was on stage I knew it would be fine. It's a lot easier for me then."
Paula Pritchard, Miss Hampton Holly Days, who also competed in the swimsuit and evening wear competition Thursday, will sing tonight in the second half of the talent preliminary. Although she's performed in front of people while working as an entertainer at Busch Gardens, Pritchard said she still has to work at controlling her nerves. Her solution: "simply being myself."
"I keep on telling myself to stay relaxed and be natural," said Pritchard, a 23-year-old senior marketing major at the College of William & Mary. "I try to always make the best of it so I won't get myself stressed."
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Talent contest winner of the groupby CNBB pageant contestants is Miss Chesapeake, Nita Booth, who sang
"There's A Winner In You." 2. The swimsuit winner of group A pageant
contestants is Miss Southside Virginia, Paula Capps. color.