Austin’s own Angela McDermott won the Miss Minnesota pageant Saturday, and is expected to take Miss America “by storm” during the January competition in Las Vegas.

McDermott, 23, was crowned following tornado warnings at Eden Prairie High School Performing Arts Center Saturday, according to her mother Jean, who said her daughter won the 2008 Miss Twin Cities pageant in the midst of a severe blizzard.

She also won first place in the talent portion of the night for her singing performance and tied for first in private interviews.

McDermott beat 14 other contestants during the two-day event last Friday and Saturday after a week of appearances throughout the Twin Cities.

“She was kind of, ‘I can’t believe this,’” Jean McDermott said. “She’s going to be marvelous.”

What was already a sizable time commitment for the University of Minnesota-Duluth graduate will increase as she tours local competitions statewide and other events over the rest of this year.

Jean McDermott said community members can also expect to see her daughter in a Miss America reality TV show staged in September, though she didn’t have further details.

She was told it would be taped over three weeks in September, McDermott said.

Her winnings include a $6,000 scholarship and $750 for her first-place scores. McDermott is the third Austin resident to win Miss Minnesota: Elizabeth Hunter won in 1985 and Debra Goodwin won in 1980.

McDermott’s platform is “Higher Education: Journey to Your Dream,” which features a curriculum-based program for fourth- and fifth-graders designed by the University of Minnesota.