Miss Oklahoma USA, Lindsey Jo Harrington, finished in the national top five. Harrington was an OSU senior.
Although many Cowboy athletes have been on television this year, none has been able to do it with the flair that Lindsey Jo Harrington did.
Simply put, Byron Eaton and Zac Robinson may be able to make big plays, but neither can pull off the evening gown look quite like Harrington.
Harrington, Miss Oklahoma USA, took the national stage at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas Nevada for the 57th Annual Miss USA Competition.
Once cameras had finished rolling and the winner was announced, Harrington, of Fredrick, Okla., lacking any real pageant experience, ended up in the top five.
“I wasn’t going there expecting a whole lot of anything,” Harrington said. “I thought it was pretty awesome.”
The blonde beauty and Oklahoma State senior took the path less traveled to the top. Instead of spending a lifetime preparing for April 11, what she describes as “an emotional rollercoaster” took her to the elite position of being in the Miss USA top five.
Harrington’s journey didn’t start with and elaborate planning process but only a short time before the Miss Oklahoma USA completion in December.
“I applied three weeks before [the Miss Oklahoma USA competition],” Harrington said. “Bought a dress off the sale rack of a department store and went out there and had fun.”
Following her Oklahoma crowning, she had to put graduation on hold and start working toward the Miss USA Competition. Although the competition was not until April, Harrington and all the other competitors made the city of sin their home for the weeks leading up to competition so they could promote it.
The contestants were judged on the three categories: interview, evening gown and swimsuit.
Unlike most women who would die if millions of people saw them in their summer’s best, Harrington didn’t think twice about doing the event.
“I liked the swimsuit portion because they had the live band Finger Eleven playing,” Harrington said. “I had always grown up watching. When I finally had the opportunity, I took it.”
Following the competition, it was rumored that Donald Trump himself had wanted Harrington to be the one to get the crown at the end of the night.
Since the April competition, life has changed drastically for Miss Oklahoma. Not only have locals recognized her while she was paying bills or getting groceries, but the entertainment industry has started to take notice.
“I have been getting tons of phone calls and lots of opportunities for acting and modeling are opening up,” Harrington said.
Harrington still has duties as Miss Oklahoma USA to complete but she is hopeful that she will be able to return to campus in the fall and finish up her degree in communications sciences and disorders.
Still unsure about her future, pre-title-winning Harrington was planning on graduating and going on for a masters in speech pathology. Even with Hollywood knocking on her door she is still confident that is what she wants to do.
One place Harrington is unlikely to end up is on her rumored No. 1 supporter’s show, “The Apprentice.”
“I think I am really too nice for the show,” Harrington said. “I wouldn’t want to hurt people’s feelings.”
The way Harrington views it, crown or not, she is a simple Oklahoma girl who likes to hunt and fish with the boys and grate grain during wheat harvest — and that is the way it will always be.
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