Preliminary competition got underway yesterday at the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas with the 53 contestants divided into 3 groups identified by Greek letters: Alpha, Sigma, and Mu.

Miss Nebraska Mariah Cook of Chadron, Miss Wyoming Lexie Madden of Torrington, and Miss South Dakota Calista Kirby…who was a cheerleader for 3 years at the University of Nebraska…are all in the Mu group and had their on-stage interviews yesterday.

No results are announced for that portion of the competition, only for talent and swimsuit/evening wear. Winning yesterday’s preliminary talent competition…which featured the Alphas…was Miss Oklahoma Alicia Clifton…while swimsuit honors for the Sigmas went to Miss South Carolina Ali Rogers.

Cook, Madden, Kirby, and the other Mu’s have the swimsuit/evening wear competition today, with the Alphas moving on to the on-stage question and the Sigmas showing off their talents. The Mu talent competition is tomorrow. Cook and Madden will offer piano solos while has Kirby a tumbling routine.

The Miss America Pageant is taking place at Planet Hollywood, with the finals airing live Saturday night on ABC…although it’s delayed in the Mountain and Pacific time zones.

Instead of seeing the live pageant broadcast at 7 pm, viewers here will see the network’s hour-long lead-in, a special edition of ABC’s 20/20 titled “Pageant Confidential: The Road to Miss America”…offering behind-the-scenes looks at the pageant and contestants…with the pageant broadcast starting at 8:00.