A second Miss Audrain Outstanding Teen for 2020 was crowned in a ceremony on Oct. 10 at the Teal Lake shelter in Mexico.
Riley Barringer of Wentzville accepted the honor and will now move on to …
This item is available in full to subscribers.
We have recently launched a new and improved website. To continue reading, you will need to either log into your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.
If you are a digital subscriber with an active subscription, or you are a print subscriber who had access to our previous website, then you already have an account here. Just reset your password if you have not yet logged in to your account on this new site.
If you are a current print subscriber and did not have a user account on our previous website, you can set up a free website account by clicking here.
Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.
Please log in to continue |
A second Miss Audrain Outstanding Teen for 2020 was crowned in a ceremony on Oct. 10 at the Teal Lake shelter in Mexico.
Riley Barringer of Wentzville accepted the honor and will now move on to the Miss Missouri pageant, scheduled for June. The current Miss Brick City Outstanding Teen, Alana Lemon, joined her at the affair, as did several winners from other regional pageants.
Like just about everything else in 2020, the circumstances leading up to the crowning were unusual. At last November’s Miss Audrain Scholarship Pageant, held at the Missouri Military Academy in Mexico, Olivia Henson from Belton was named Miss Audrain. Lemon was awarded the Brick City Outstanding Teen title, while the judges selected Erica Mock as Miss Audrain Outstanding Teen.
All three were slated to compete as part of the Miss Missouri pageant, that is until COVID-19 forced its cancellation. The Audrain event set for November fell victim to the pandemic, as well. Officials of the Miss Audrain Scholarship Pageant decided the three should serve until June of 2021 in hopes that the normal event schedule would resume.
Then came another twist. Mock moved to California and decided to relinquish her crown when travel back to Missouri became too difficult. So the board approached Barringer to see if she was willing to carry the title forward and compete at Miss Missouri, should it return.
“We don’t like to put people in a position they’re not comfortable with,” said pageant co-director Amy LeCount. “It was her decision.”
Officials of the Miss Audrain pageant organized last Saturday’s event as a way for Barringer to have a crowning experience of her own.
“We wanted her to have a special moment,” LeCount explained.
Contestants in the pageants have an opportunity to earn scholarship money to pay for higher education or any student debt accumulated. The Outstanding Teen class is open to girls 13-17. Women 18-25 can enter the Miss Audrain competition.
Barringer will now join Lemon and Henson as they prepare for Miss Missouri. Local volunteers help with mock interviews and other training sessions throughout the spring.
Of course, whether or not the big event returns to Mexico’s MMA campus in 2021 is up to COVID-19 and public health officials.
“We’re hoping, but we all understand we’re in this weird limbo,” LeCount said.
