Pageant Runner-Up Loses Again

TRENTON, N.J. — The runner-up in the Miss New Jersey Pageant lost her court battle today to represent the state in the Miss America pageant when a state appeals court refused to dethrone the winner.

The Appellate Division of Superior Court denied a request by second-place finisher Laura Ann Bridges that the reigning Miss New Jersey, Toni Georgiana, be stripped of her title. Bridges, a 24-year-old dental student from Jersey City, claimed that Georgiana, 21, should not be allowed to compete in the 65th Miss America pageant next month because she falsely represented herself as a bona fide student in New Jersey when she entered the state contest.