Winner gets it right the second time

Mike Sciacca

Twelve hopeful young women graced the stage of the Huntington Beach

High School auditorium in a semi-circle late Saturday night, each

hoping to have her named called out last.

In this case, the last would be first.

It was a stunned Lynette Hibben who had that honor, as her name

was announced as the winner of the 2003 Miss Huntington Beach

Scholarship Pageant.

The 19-year-old Golden West College student stood there for a

brief moment, almost uncertain that she, indeed, had won the title.

“I was stunned,” declared Hibben, the first runner-up in last

year’s pageant and only one of two contestants to return from a year

ago.

“To be completely honest, I thought they were going to call out

someone else’s name. I really don’t think it has sunk in just yet.”

Hibben won over the judges with her style, her talent -- she sang,

“Shy,” from the Broadway musical “Once Upon a Mattress” -- and her

platform, which was “Substance Abuse Among Adolescence.”

She said her previous experience with the pageant helped better

prepare her this time out.

“You still get nervous, but at the same time, you’re more sure of

yourself,” Hibben said. “I was really prepared and I’m just thrilled

to death. I’m so proud to be able to represent Huntington Beach. My

main goal is to be the best possible representative for our city.”

Hibben, who won $1,200 in scholarship money, will represent Surf

City at June’s Miss California-America Pageant, a preliminary

competition to September’s Miss America contest in Atlantic City.

Completing the royal court were first runner-up Annalisa Abbs, 22,

a Huntington Beach resident attending Azusa Pacific University and

winner of $700; second runner-up Erin Britt, 19, an Orange Coast

College student and winner of $500; Dorri Daggett, an 18-year-old

Golden West College student and winner of the Miss Congeniality

award; and Ocean View High student Andrea Letcher, 17, who was named

Miss Photogenic.

“The pageant was a great success -- it was one of our best,” said

June Dougmore, executive director of the scholarship pageant. “All of

the girls did an outstanding job.”