Miss Nevada takes on bullies for her cause

It's rare to find a woman who can speak of a boxer's fracture in the first person. Even more rare for her to do it while wearing a sash and crown.

Miss Nevada Randi Sundquist has just recounted the junior high fistfight that ended with her punching hand in a cast 11 years ago. In many ways it led the 23-year-old to a much more meaningful fight that takes place Saturday at Planet Hollywood Resort. That's when she'll battle 52 contestants for the Miss America title (representatives from the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands also compete).

Should she win, Sundquist plans to spend her reign calling national attention to the problem that led to that hand injury.

Her platform is focused on preventing youth violence and bullying. It's a subject that's had a bright spotlight for several years, which is all the more reason for a pageant contestant to pass it over, but she opted for sincerity over strategy.

Sundquist doesn't know why her seventh-grade bully targeted her, taunted her and attacked her in a fight she's quick to clarify she won. She only knows it was traumatizing enough to steal her confidence for many years.

"Just two years ago I was crying and thinking, 'Why me?' " she says. "It has long-lasting penetrating effects."

Her initial interest in the Miss America Organization was financially driven. The Elko native had transferred from Idaho State University to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and needed scholarship money.

She got it and graduated with a degree in journalism and media studies, debt free. But that paled in comparison to everything else she gained: poise, a head held high and, according to her interview coach Elizabeth Muto Hunterton, the ability to command a room.

"It has been one of my greatest joys to watch her personal evolution," says Muto Hunterton, Miss Nevada 2004. "She has really blossomed into a woman who not only knows she has something important to say, but the confidence to do so."

According to the Miss America website, private interviews count for 25 percent of preliminary scoring, only second to talent (35 percent). Muto Hunterton, who won a nonfinalist interview award when she ran for Miss America, has trained Sundquist to have an opinion when answering her questions. So long as she has the intelligence to back it up, she says, people will respect it.

There isn't a question she fears facing, but Sundquist says the difficult ones are the least expected. For instance, she once heard someone asked to "describe to a blind person what the color blue looks like."

She'd prefer to take a position, even if it's not a popular one, such as her stance on same-sex marriage. Citing her biblical beliefs, she opposes it.

For her talent, Sundquist will perform modern dance to Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up." In the past 20 years there have been only three winners whose talents were in the field of dance: two en pointe ballerinas and one hula dancer. All others have sung for their talent, and one, Teresa Scanlan in 2011, played the piano.

Those numbers, however, don't intimidate Sundquist, who feels that large audiences for shows such as "So You Think You Can Dance" prove her talent could be the exception this year.

"The Miss America image has gone from the girl next door to an 'it' factor," she says. "Talents are becoming more modern and contemporary."

Growing up, dance was her "safe haven," the outlet she relied on to make her feel good about herself. To this day, she says, something unexplainable happens inside her body when she dances.

If she makes the first cut in the pageant, audiences can see it for themselves.

Her father, Randy Sundquist, for one, isn't necessarily expecting her to get the big win, but he does have other expectations. "That she carries herself with respect and does the best she can do," he says.

Randi insists she wasn't interested in the actual Miss Nevada crown. "I wanted the voice the crown gave me," she clarifies, pointing to her anti-bullying platform.

If she becomes Miss America, she'll be the first Miss Nevada ever to do so, which might point to slim chances. But if anyone can beat the odds, it's a pageant queen with a boxer's fracture

Contact Xazmin Garza at xgarza@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0477. Follow her on Twitter @startswithanx.