Robin's Blog for Dauphin Island

From the Mobile Press Register

Dan Murtaugh, Staff Reporter

June 22, 2009

In Alina Ostrow's Massachusetts, a violent gang of mermaids known as the Seashells drown children and wage war against beavers.

That's where Ostrow, who is representing the Bay State in the America's Junior Miss competition, said she got her idea for the mermaid that she and her host family were building Sunday at a sand sculpture competition on Dauphin Island's west end.

But unlike the wicked mermaids of her home state, Ostrow said her sand model was a kinder, gentler Alabama mermaid.

"The mermaids in Massachusetts aren't this modest," she said, pointing to her mermaid's seashell swimsuit.

The sand sculpture contest was part of a beach outing for 50 contestants who are in Mobile to vie for a $50,000 scholarship and the title of America's Junior Miss. The final competition will be held Saturday night.

After a miserably hot first week filled with physically demanding rehearsals, Junior Misses said they were enjoying every second of the cool breeze, temperate water and laid-back atmosphere on the beach.

It also didn't hurt that this was the first day the girls didn't have to practice their routines, giving them a chance to sleep in and take naps.

"All week long when I've tried to get out of bed I've fallen because my legs are so sore," Texas' Madison Greer said. "Now I'll be ready for another four-hour fitness practice."

For North Dakota's Ashley Berg, Sunday marked the first time she'd been to a beach since she was 3 years old. She took to it like a cat to catnip.

"This is amazing," Berg yelled in a gravelly voice as she pulled Illinois Junior Miss Betsy Kuckuk into the water. "I want to go to school here."

Junior Miss organizers let the girls play in the water for about an hour before starting the sand sculpture competition. The theme was technology, which was perhaps cruel since the girls have been deprived of their cell phones and iPods since they arrived in Mobile last week.

The winning sculpture -- of a giant hand holding an iPod -- belonged to Maryland's Hannah Stone and Indiana's Whitney Johnson. Stone said if it were her iPod, it would probably be playing the Beyonce hit "Single Ladies."

Kansas' Mallory Gillilard and Colorado's Lauren Detwiler built a very sharp digital camera.

"We're the unlikely contestants," Gillilard said. "We're both from very landlocked states."

"They told me: 'Lauren, pretend it's snow,'" Detwiler said.

After the sculptures were built, Michigan's Jojo Bierlein and Idaho's Kayla Hoover walked along the beach, letting the warm water lap up against their ankles.

"Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, they're all cold," Bierlein said. "This is different. I love it here. I could stay all day."

A loud buzzer sounded from the parking lot. "I think it's dinner time," Hoover said.

"I think I'd rather go swim again than eat," Bierlein said.