Five-year-old Audrey Lamar found herself in a place she never had before — performing on stage in front of complete strangers.

An outgoing child by nature, one that enjoyed dancing on the kitchen table in front of her family, it came as a surprise to see her completely freeze during the talent portion of the pageant.

It could have ended in disaster if it weren’t for her brother Ryan, who, 14-months her senior, leapt up from his seat and started performing the routine in front of the stage to help his little sister.

“We had no idea he even knew what the routine was,” said Pam Lamar, Audrey’s mother. “Every time we had been practicing it, he had been watching TV, playing with his truck, doing something.”

Ryan’s heroics were enough for Audrey to finish in second place.

“When she got a little stage fright, I wanted to help her out,” Ryan said. “Whether I wanted to learn it or not, Audrey was my little buddy, so I didn’t have a choice.”

Now 22, Audrey recently found herself on a much bigger stage — that of Miss Kansas 2012, in which she finished in the top-10 on June 9.

It was her 16th career pageant, most of which have come since her senior year of high school.

Audrey is from Valley Center and graduated from Wichita State in December with a degree in Health Science and plans to pursue a master’s in Epidemiology.

She used these pageants as a way to pay for school, having earned more than $9,500 in scholarships, but also as a way to grow as an individual.

“It’s almost like a sisterhood, kind of like a sorority, with a bunch of girls you are actually competing with,” Audrey said. “But when you are there, you don’t feel like you are competing with them. It’s more like you are competing with yourself to get better.”

Audrey’s introduction to pageant life at age 5 came from her mother, who is also a WSU graduate and former runner-up for Miss Wichita State in 1981. Pam Lamar was also a member of Alpha Phi sorority, the same as Audrey.

“It’s not like I am following in her footsteps, but I almost am,” Audrey said. “She was more happy-go-lucky with it. I am, too, but she wasn’t nearly as competitive. She just kind of borrowed a dress from a sorority sister and did it.”

The Lamar family has always been very close, having done almost everything together, including pageants. Audrey’s father, Ron, always has the last say as far as evening gown goes.

And when Audrey decides to stop doing pageants, it likely won’t be an end to the family’s bonding.

“There is a lot of fun with those big earrings and those beautiful gowns and having reasons to dress up and just do total girly stuff,” Pam said. “But we will be doing other things, too. I’m sure we will find a replacement.”

Audrey hopes to continue doing pageants for a few more years, although maybe in smaller organizations that take less of her time. When the day comes that she stops doing them altogether, there won’t be any regrets.

“I’ve done it a lot and I’ve gained so much from it, so what else can I really gain from it,” Audrey said. “This year, when I left the stage after every single part of competition, I really knew that I gave it my all and there was no way I could have done anything better.”

And it all began when her mother put her in that first pageant at 5-years-old.

“She wouldn’t have ever thought about putting me in my first pageant if she wouldn’t have had that experience of me standing on tables, singing and dancing,” Audrey said.