BIDDEFORD – Rachel Wadsworth, a theater major at the University of New Hampshire, was crowned Miss Maine on Saturday.

Wadsworth, 20, of Hiram, tap-danced during the show’s talent program and said her ambition is to open her own studio for the performing arts.

Her platform was “The Arts and the Elderly,” and she plans to spend the next year promoting those issues, said Maggie Walker of the Miss Maine board.

The reigning Miss America, Katie Harman, was on hand at the Biddeford City Theatre, as Wadsworth, previously chosen as Miss Forest City, beat out nine other regional winners.

She won a $3,500 academic scholarship and various other awards, including tickets to a taping of “Live with Regis and Kelly.”

Wadsworth will represent Maine in the 2002 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J., on Sept. 21.

The pageant’s first runner-up was Alyssa Caddle of Steep Falls, and the second runner-up was Ashley Liberty of Gray.