Winner of 2021 Miss SC Teen pageant is crowned in Columbia. Here’s who won

Dabria Aguilar is the new Miss South Carolina Teen.

She was crowned Friday night at a packed Township Auditorium by Miss South Carolina Teen Kellan Fenegan 2019, who represented Columbia. Fenegan served for two years because COVID caused the 2020 contest to be canceled.

At the start of the show, 15 contestants were selected by the judges as semi-finalists from the 35 competing. Piedmont Teen Piper Holt joined the group as the People’s Choice winner based on online votes.

Judges selected the top 10 after the fitness competition, and after talent performances, the top five were announced.

First runner up was Georgetown County Teen Hannah Young, second runner up Clemson Teen Reilly Ray, third runner up Greer High Teen Ella Kate Brannon and fourth runner up Spartanburg Teen Messiah Moring.

Aguilar, 17, performed a contemporary ballet and also had the highest talent score of all the contestants. She is from Hanahan and attends Hanahan High School.

Aguilar wants to focus on special education. She said she hopes to visit every special education classroom in the state to help enhance students’ self confidence and self love.

Aguilar will go to the Miss Outstanding Teen competition in Orlando, which begins with preliminary competitions July 28.

Winners in the three nights of preliminary competitions were Aguilar, Dorchester County Teen Muskaan Makkar, Clarendon County Teen Nicole Herrera, Clemson Teen Reilly Ray, Georgetown County Teen Hannah Young and Spartanburg Teen Messiah Moring.

Fenegen, who graduated this year from high school, will enroll at Clemson University in August and plans to study genetics. She said in an interview on the Jack and Megan show last fall she may decide to compete in the Miss South Carolina pageant. She was in the top 10 at Miss Outstanding Teen and had the highest GPA. She began her involvement with Miss South Carolina as a princess.

As Miss South Carolina Teen, Fenegen spent the past two years working to provide needed items for kids in foster care through her Kellan’s Kloset organization. She announced Friday night that the organization has now gone international. It is in 14 state and Three countries., she said.

“I wouldn’t have had the courage without the Miss South Carolina organization,” she said. “I am incredibly grateful.”

The other in the Top 10 were Florence Teen Alexandra Hamilton, Green Wave Teen Ansley Cook, Piedmont Teen Piper Holt, South Florence High School Teen Constance Mixon, Upstate Teen Belle Pitts.

Semi-finalists in the Top 16 included Clarendon Teen Nicole Herrera, Dorchester County Teen, Muskaan Makkar, Garden City Teen Ashley O’Connor, Inman Teen Emma Cook, Palmetto Teen Abby Scruggs, Greater Greer Teen Kelsey Pranke.

Next up is crowning a new Miss South Carolina. That program begins at 8 p.m. Saturday at Township Auditorium and will be televised by WACH Fox television station in Columbia and other Sinclair stations around the state. Those are WCIV in Charleston, WPDE in Florence-Myrtle Beach and WLOS in Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson.

The Miss SC finale also will be live streamed on the Miss South Carolina website at a cost of $29.95.

Miss South Carolina 2019 Morgan Nichols served for two years and plans to attend Johns Hopkins University to earn master’s degrees in biotechnology and business. She was a genetics major at Clemson University.

Her platform was to further STEM education in South Carolina. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math.

Preliminary winners for Miss South Carolina are Miss Clemson Anna Newton, Miss Greater Greer Jada Samuel, Miss Lander University Kara Love, Miss Midlands Emily Wakeman and Miss Sparkle City C.J. McDermott.

Newton won for her talent and evening wear/social impact statement, which is connecting first responders with community members to learn their needs.

Fifteen finalists and one People’s Choice winner will be announced Saturday to compete during the program.

Miss South Carolina 2021 will go to the Miss America competition in December in Connecticut.

This story was originally published June 25, 2021 at 10:46 PM.