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OSHKOSH, Wis. (AP) -- Twenty-three-year-old Kathryn Bess Gorman of Onalaska has captured the Miss Wisconsin 2012 crown.
  
The Miss Wisconsin Pageant said Gorman, who entered as Miss La Crosse/Oktoberfest, bested 22 other women for the title at Oshkosh West High School's Civic Auditorium.

Gorman is a 2012 elementary art education and communications graduate of the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The tap dancer wins a $10,000 scholarship and will now advance to the 2013 Miss America pageant next January in Las Vegas with the hopes of succeeding the reigning Miss America, Laura Marie Kaeppeler of Kenosha.
 
First through fourth runners-up to Gorman were, respectively: Miss Heart of Wisconsin, Kathryn Marie Williams, 23, of Wisconsin Rapids; Miss Seven Rivers, Elizabeth Anne Kramer, 22, of Holmen; Miss New Berlin, Raquel Faye Bruening, 20, of New Berlin; and Miss Heart of the Valley,Desiree Sue Geffers, 24, of Oshkosh. Geffers made history last weekend by becoming the first woman to compete in the state pageant a record five times. The UW-Oshkosh graduate was second runner-up last year.
 
Miss Milwaukee, Stephanie Marie Obst, 22, of St. Francis, a UW-Milwaukee graduate, did not place in the pageant, however, Miss Southern Wisconsin,Tonya Marie Popowski, 23, of Cudahy was among the ten semi-finalists and also won the Thursday preliminary swimsuit award. The UW-Milwaukee senior and three-time state pageant entrant was Miss Milwaukee in 2010 and Miss St. Francis last year.