Raquel Faye Bruening was selected as second runner-up in the 2015 Miss Wisconsin pageant, held June 20 at the Oshkosh West High School’s Alberta Kimball Civic Auditorium.
Bruening, 23, of New Berlin, competed as Miss Southern Wisconsin, a title she won Jan. 18 in Saint Francis. She is a December 2014 music education graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. This fall Bruening will begin pursuing her Master of Music Degree in clarinet performance.
During the Miss Wisconsin preliminary competition judging, Bruening performed
“Rhapsody in Blue” by George Gershwin on the clarinet; the following evening she won the preliminary swimsuit competition.
This was Bruening’s third attempt at the state pageant title after placing fourth runner-up in 2013 as Miss Fox River Valley, a state “open” title she won in Appleton, and was also the winner of the Academic Achievement award that year. In 2012, she placed third runner-up as Miss New Berlin.
In the summer of 2014, Bruening was named Miss Wisconsin Collegiate in Hopkins, Minn. and later competed in the national Miss Collegiate America pageant. That pageant is not associated with the Miss Wisconsin and Miss America programs.
Winning the Miss Wisconsin crown June 20 was first-time entrant Miss New Berlin, Rosalie Elizabeth Smith, 19, of Waukesha, a lyrical dancer, who will now advance to the 2015 Miss America pageant on Sept. 13 in Atlantic City, NJ. First runner-up was Miss Harbor Cities, Jessica Victoria Johnson, 23, of Beloit.
UW-Whitewater sophomore elementary and special education student Alexandria
Mae Knight, 19, of Burlington competed as Miss Burlington Area, but did not place.
