![shutterstock_264759545](https://floridapolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/shutterstock_264759545.jpg)
Miss Orlando Courtney Sexton has been crowned Miss Florida 2016.
![Sexton](https://floridapolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Screen-Shot-2016-07-04-at-11.12.42-AM-150x150.png)
Pageant officials said the 23-year-old from Starke beat out 47 other women Saturday night and will now compete in the Miss America 2017 pageant in September in Atlantic City, N.J.
She won the “lifestyle, fitness and swimsuit” preliminary competition earlier in the week. Her talent is dance.
The Orlando Sentinel reported Sexton is working on her master’s degree in health administration at the University of Central Florida. The Miss Florida crown comes with a $18,000 scholarship.
The first runner-up was Miss Daytona Beach Lindsay Bettis of St. Augustine.
Reprinted with permission of The Associated Press