After a long day of rehearsals, interviews, costume changes and stomach-tightening nervousness, AnnMarie Wagner, of Austin, emerged as the winner of the Miss Austin 2002 pageant.

Wagner, a sophomore at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. came to the pageant with the platform of "Give and Get Back: Promoting the Benefits of Community Service" and performed the song, "It's Time For You Now" in the talent part of the competition.

Balancing bouquets of flowers in her arms and her new crown on her head, she said "I'm thrilled. I'm absolutely thrilled. I had a great time with the girls this week … we've all been preparing for this for a long time."

She said she'd worked on her vocal performance for "several months" and chose it because "it belongs in a pageant. When you listen to it, it just sounds like it should be in a pageant and it shows my vocal range really well."

The talent portion was the easy part of the whole event, she said. "I was nervous about the interviews because you don't know what they're going to ask, so there's no way to really prepare for them."

Wagner was awarded a $5,000 scholarship and will compete in the Miss Minnesota pageant next year.

Carissa Wyant, of Austin, was first runner-up and Suzanne Kooy, of Austin, was the second runner-up.

Amanda L. Rohde can be reached at 434-2214 or by e-mail at amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com