Miss Illinois USA 2023 is Samantha Elliott of Freeport
Miss Freeport, Samantha Elliott, was crowned Miss Illinois USA 2023 in a glittering state competition held on Sunday, May 28 at Braden Auditorium of the Illinois State University. The runners-up were Grace Rodi of DuPage County, Olivia Santelli of Edison Park, Yolina Lindquist of Southern Illinois, and Abby Foster of East Central. Samantha succeeds Angel Reyes, last year's winner who placed fourth runner-up and bagged the Miss Photogenic award at Miss USA 2022. The 22-year-old University of Kansas alumna with degrees in accounting and analytics will now prepare to represent Illinois at Miss USA 2023 in Reno, Nevada this fall. "Truly honored to be your new Miss Illinois USA. Words cannot express how excited I am to get this year started and to be headed to Miss USA," she wrote on social media. Sunday's event also crowned Vivica Lewandowski of Gold Coast as Miss Illinois Teen USA 2023 while Sofia Console, Karolina Kozbial, Sophia Xia, and Grace Toomey were announced as