Makinzie Gregory of Scottsbluff was crowned Miss Nebraska 2025 on Saturday at the North Platte High Performing Arts Theater.

Gregory came into the pageant as Miss Old West Balloon Fest. Her platform was The Wellness Way: A Guide to Overall Health. Her talent was in Lyrical Dance.

Gabby Swift of North Platte was crowned Miss Nebraska’s Teen. Swift is a 2025 graduate of St. Pat’s High School, who will be attending the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Swift said it is a dream come true and that she was motivated by the memory of her grandfather, Bob Spady, who was a major booster of the Miss Nebraska program.

“It means the world being able to carry on my grandfather’s legacy that he had in his organization,” she said. “It’s so surreal and I am just so blessed I get to do it.”

Swift’s platform was on awareness and the danger of eating disorders.

As her talent, Swift performed a floor exercise gymnastics routine, which stood out among the other contestants who mostly either sang or did interpretive dances. The other criteria the delegates were ranked on were fitness, evening gown and interviews, both answering questions from Miss Nebraska 2024 Raechel Warren that were drawn at random from fishbowl held by Miss Nebraska’s Teen 2024 Janae Harris and in private with the judges.

In the final question before she was named the winner, Swift was asked by Warren how she would balance the time between her duties as Miss Nebraska’s Teen, as well as her studies in college.

Swift said she was already used to being busy and multi-tasking, being a three-sport athlete at St. Pat’s as well as the president of the student council.

“As I said, I’m ready for that workload and I’m ready to be Miss Nebraska,” she said.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Swift competed in the Nebraska State Track and Field Meet. In that short of a time span, she had to adjust to take part in another highly-intense competition that required a different skillset.

“It was a lot of work and a lot of prep but it pushed me to be better,” Swift said.

Paige Dodson, who is a senior-to-be at North Platte St. Pat’s, was second runner-up for Miss Nebraska’s Teen. Aspen LaVante, also a native of North Platte, was one of the top seven finalists.

Swift is good friends with Dodson but the two from St. Pat’s didn’t just keep to themselves during the week. At pageants, the contestants all bond and become good friends with each other. It’s a lot like track when you’re competing in the same event as your teammate. You support each other and you want them to do well. Them doing well, motivates you to do better because most of all, you want to win.

“We had probably one of the best classes,” Swift said. “We all loved each other so much and we’re thankful for each other. We push each other to do our best and it was the best class I could ever hope for.”

This year was the 40th anniversary of the Miss Nebraska Pageant moving to North Platte from Fremont. Julie (Meusburger) Parsons, the Miss Nebraska from the first year in North Platte in 1985, co-hosted the pageant along with Jessica (States) Thiele, a North Platte native who was Miss Nebraska’s Teen in 2005.

As the judges were contemplating their final decision, Parsons was asked what she liked most about North Platte, from winning Miss Nebraska to hosting it, this year.

“North Platte is the perfect picture of enthusiasm (you want for this pageant),” she said. “It was standing room only. North Platte was wonderful. Coming back, I’m glad seeing North Platte is still the same in all those wonderful ways.”

Thiele followed by thanking the host parents of the delegates. Even as a competitor from North Platte, she had a host family and she recounted when she was staying at the house of Tim and Molly O’Holleran during one of her pageants. When she was staying with them, a tornado warning was issued and Thiele said Molly was seemingly more concerned with getting her to shelter than her own kids.

Thiele also told experiences with her father, Doug, competing in pageants. Thiele said her dad was always supportive of her but he never developed an interest in pageants. Case in point, when Thiele would be competing, Doug would be in the stands but listening to the Husker game on his earbuds.

Or in 2011, when Thiele lost to eventual Miss America winner Teresa Scanlan, Doug had Thiele’s fishing pole ready on the spot for the two’s fishing trip to Canada, in case she didn’t win the Miss Nebraska crown.

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