 Sapp competed in Miss Hawaii three times before winning in 1991, enabling her to represent her state at the Miss America 1992 pageant.During the preliminary competition, Sapp won the preliminary swimsuit round and was crowned the winner of the pageant on the final night of competition.A day after her coronation, it was revealed that Sapp had been in an abusive relationship with former New York Jets player Nuu Faaola whom she had dated before her Miss Hawaii tenure, and later stated that this leaked information was against her wishes as it was a personal matter.