Miss Maine USA Runner-Up Responds to Skewed Media Coverage After Jordon Hudson Comes in Third at Pageant

Miss Maine USA runner-up Mara Carpenter is speaking up about the press frenzy that has surrounded the pageant.

On Monday, May 12 — one day after winner Shelby Howell was crowned — Carpenter took to her Instagram Stories to both thank and call out the media personnel who have reached out to her in the 24 hours since she shared the stage with Bill Belichick‘s girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, who placed third overall.

Both local and major national outlets flocked to the Holiday Inn venue in Portland to see Hudson, 24, and Belichick, 73, who supported her on both days, sitting front row during the preliminary round on Saturday, May 10 and the finals on Sunday, May 11. The press also came to watch history-making contestant Isabelle St. Cyr, the first transgender Miss Maine USA contestant.

In Carpenter’s post-pageant reflection on the widespread coverage, she noted that her name and runner-up achievement seldom appear in the news posts she’s seen.

“I appreciate all of the media reaching out and congratulating me on my placement…But at the same time fails to even mention my placement in any article, and still continues to ask for my input on the other ladies,” she wrote alongside a smiling selfie on Instagram.

“I loved all of the contestants, and I’m the mystery person that your fail to mention inbetween [sic] winner and 2nd [runner-up]!” added Carpenter, who was representing Cumberland County at the statewide event.

“We ALL worked incredibly hard,” the second-place competitor concluded. “Put that in your article!”

Similarly, St. Cyr spoke to PEOPLE about the pageant’s newsiness, specifically explaining how she and Hudson bonded over being in the eye of the press storm.

“We had a conversation backstage and we were like, ‘You know, the media hasn’t necessarily been kind to us.’ We just kind of talked about how we’ve dealt with it, how to move forward, how to remain positive and when to comment and not to comment,” St. Cyr told PEOPLE. “I really appreciate her willingness to talk to me about the media coverage.”

She also said that having that conversation before the pageant cleared the air between the two contestants. Their chat ensured their was “no bad blood” between them, despite the way some headlines pitted the two noteworthy Miss Maine USA hopefuls against each other.

“I think we both wanted to make it clear that we had nothing to do with it and that we were just happy to be competing,” said St. Cyr, who placed in the top 10. “So I was very thankful for that.”