Talk about wonder twin powers activating.
In what may be a first in pageant history, the new Miss Washington USA was crowned this week by none other than her twin sister.
That’s right: Twin siblings have been tapped to wear the tiara for the Evergreen State for two years in a row. Tara Turnure served as Miss Washington USA 2009, and she just vacated the throne to make way for her ever-so-slightly younger sister, Tracy Turnure, the new Miss Washington USA 2010.
“It may never happen again,” Tara Turnure told Seattle news station KING 5. “I think we made pageant history.”
The 23-year-old Seattleites are fraternal twins – not identical. Tracy has blond hair and is 5 inches taller than her sister, who has dark brown hair.
“I think if we would have been identical twins … she wouldn’t have won,” Tara said of her newly crowned sister. “I mean, they don’t want the exact same person to be next year’s winner.”
Tara told KING 5 that she took her “big sister” role seriously in helping her twin prepare for the pageant. She’s about an hour and a half older than Tracy.
“I, you know, was able to boss her around a little bit and tell her what she needed to do to win,” Tara said.
Tracy, the new Miss Washington USA, is a graduate of the University of Washington. She works at a real estate company in downtown Seattle.
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Winners of the Miss Washington USA competition compete in the Miss USA competition. The Miss USA winner goes on to compete in the Miss Universe Pageant.
(The Miss Universe Organization is owned by Donald Trump and NBC Universal; TODAYshow.com is a joint venture of NBC Universal and Microsoft.)
According to KING 5, pageant triumphs run in Tracy and Tara’s family. Their mother Terri also was a pageant winner.
Tracy said with a big laugh: “Now it’s my turn!”