Nia Sanchez is crowned Miss USA

BATON ROUGE, La., June 9 (UPI) -- Nia Sanchez, a 24-year-old model from Nevada, was crowned Miss USA at a national pageant held Sunday in Baton Rouge, La.

Sanchez will go on to compete in the Miss Universe contest later this year.

Miss North Dakota, Audra Mari, was the runner-up for the Miss USA competition, which aired on NBC.

Giuliana Rancic, co-anchor of E! News, and Thomas Roberts of MSNBC's Way Too Early served as hosts of the pageant.

Among the judges of the 2014 Miss USA contest were Ian Ziering, Lance Bass, Rumer Willis and Randy Couture.