Kristina Schmuhl, 23, is Miss Sonoma County 2017

The new Miss Sonoma County is Kristina Schmuhl, a 23-year-old Santa Rosa resident and graduate of Maria Carrillo High who aspires to earn a doctorate in anthropology and coach women’s golf.

The former two-time All-Empire high school golfer was crowned at a nearly sold-out stage competition Saturday evening at Rohnert Park’s Spreckels Performing Arts Center. Selected as the pageant’s Miss Sonoma County’s Outstanding Teen was Elsie Allen High junior Stephanie Ostendorf, an honor student and musician who intends to become a chemist in the cosmetics industry.

Winning the 71st year of the Miss Sonoma County scholarship competition means Schmuhl will represent Sonoma County in the Miss California competition, the winner of which competes for the Miss America title.

For the talent portion, Schmuhl recited a poem, “The Sea Captain and Me.” She told the judges that as Miss Sonoma County she would work to become a source of inspiration for people struggling with mental illness, sharing that she was diagnosed about a year ago with generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder.

She wrote in her application, “The diagnoses were scary and stigmatizing. I had always been somebody who people looked at as ‘having it all together.’” She obtained treatment and aspires to “be the liaison between the voiceless and the underprivileged to get them the help they need.”

Following graduation in 2012, Schmuhl studied at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

She’s currently enrolled at Santa Rosa Junior College, where her focus is on anthropology and wine studies. She works as a wine educator at Thumbprint Cellars.

This was her second try to become Miss Sonoma County, finishing as second runner-up last year.

She was crowned by Miss Sonoma County 2016, Hannah Maffia.

How did it feel to wear the tiara?

“It was a little wobbly at first,” Schmuhl said. But quickly she thought to herself, “It’s something I can get used to.”

Ostendorf was one of six competitors for Miss Sonoma County’s Outstanding Teen 2017. On stage, she accompanied herself on the piano as she sang, “Titanium.” A junior member of the county Commission on the Status of Women, Ostendorf will work to remove workplace barriers to gender equality.

She received the crown from her predecessor as Outstanding Teen, Siobhan Hauff.