For 29 contestants, seven of whom are Ball State University students, the journey to Las Vegas begins in Zionsville.
The Miss Indiana Pageant will begin preliminaries this week, and the finals will be Saturday.
Carol Kosisko, director of the Miss Ball State pageant, has worked with most of the girls who will compete.
She said she helped pick clothes and prepare some of the women for interviews. But now Kosisko has to give the women space because they won local pageants, and she doesn't step on other directors' toes, she said.
But she said it's fantastic that Ball State was well represented.
"We have our own volleyball or basketball team," she said.
Frank Ricketts, co-director of the Miss Indiana pageant, said the field of 29 women was the strongest and largest field since he began co-directing the pageant four years ago.
"Miss Ball State is a long-standing pageant, and we have always been pleased with the quality of women from Ball State," he said.
Ricketts said the pageant had 24 contestants four years ago, and he expected to have 31 contestants in the next year.
"Seven out of 29 is pretty good odds," he said.
Ricketts has been working on the pageant with his co-director, Aren Howell, the whole year.
In past interviews, the Miss Indiana co-directors said Miss Indiana would be on the road at least three days a week to speak with adults and children.
To prepare for the pageant, Ricketts said he went to sleep between 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. for the past few nights, as he had been ironing out the details.
He and his team need to set up appearances at Riley's Children's Hospital and prepare the stage at Zionsville High School for the production Saturday, he said.
But Ricketts must part with Nicole Rash, the past Miss Indiana.
"It's not that I'm saying goodbye to Nicole," he said. "It's that Nicole and I are welcoming a new Miss Indiana to the family."
Rash was not available for comment.
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