A Corvallis woman has just been named Miss Oregon USA and hopes to become the first Miss Oregon to be named Miss USA during the competition next spring.

Mary Horch, 23, was born and raised in Corvallis, and returned to her hometown as an adult to attend Oregon State University. Last Sunday, she was named Miss Oregon USA at a competition held at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Portland, on her fourth attempt at the title.

"I thought, this has to be a mistake," Horch said of finally achieving her goal.

Horch attended Hoover Elementary and Cheldelin Middle School. A life-long lover of ballet, she also attended the Corvallis Academy of Ballet for 13 years.

After graduating from Crescent Valley High School in 2002, she moved to Portland for two years to attend Portland State University. But it became too expensive to live away from home, so she returned and attended OSU, eventually receiving a bachelor's degree in business and marketing in June 2007.

Horch, whose mother, Ney Turner, is a native of Ecuador, grew up in a bilingual household. She said she is proud to be a successful Latina, and feels that pursuing her dream of becoming Miss USA will help empower other Hispanic women "to go out there and do it."

The two-day competition included several rounds of judging, including interviews and a swimsuit and evening gown competition. Horch said judges are looking for poise, confidence and physical fitness. She placed third during her first competition, and returned three more times, continuing to work on her physical fitness as well as her public speaking and interviewing skills.

"Just having poise and being confident on stage in front of a large audience" was a challenge, but she kept going back year after year.

Horch said she believes competitions and the modeling world in general are starting to look for healthier, more fit women. Last year, she said, she was told she was too thin and afterward worked hard to build her body to a higher level of fitness for this year's competition.

Now that she's won, she will be doing a lot of community service around the state, especially in Corvallis. Horch said she wants to focus on breast and ovarian cancer, the Miss USA platform, as well as diabetes, a disease that runs in her family. She also hopes to get involved in local schools, a personal passion. She'll also be preparing for April's Miss USA competition, looking for sponsors, and perhaps eventually competing in the Miss Universe pageant.

She is considering returning to school for a graduate degree, and is interested in fashion, advertising and public relations, but is waiting to see exactly what doors being Miss Oregon USA, and perhaps Miss USA, might open for her. She's even dreamed of becoming a soap opera star, and admitted she was disappointed when "Passions," was cancelled, because she thought it would be fun to appear on the program.

"I'm open to anything," she said.