Were you felling like going to faint at that moments?
What kind of meds you are taking currently?

It's fairly common that an emotional state (such as anxiety) can cause physical manifestations in the body. And that over time, your body will react to pressures in ways that surprise you.

You can control high blood pressure through healthy lifestyle habits and taking medicines, if needed. I found two guides for your about lowering high blood pressure. Please let me know if they help.

http://hp2010.nhlbihin.net/mission/partner /should_know.pdf
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/public/hea rt/hbp/hbp_low/hbp_low.pdf

At one point, i felt dizzy slightly but otherwise i felt fine, i think. i am taking micardis plus 80-12.5.

rooted, i will look into those guides. thank you

Sorry, it was 157-117

I was concern about your readings of systolic and diastolic blood pressure getting too close to each other (initially you wrote 124/117), cause this can lead to losing your consciousness and faint, and, can be suggestive for some heart problems or problems with your system of veins.
According to your readings 157/117, you belong to stage 2 of hypertension, when patient must be treated at least with 2 different drugs, and if their course of action fails to bring blood pressure down to your target level, BELOW 140/90 for most individuals, your doctor may add additional drugs to the mix.
Being overweighted is one of the risk for having hypertension.
Predisposing condition such as a mild kidney disease, or a family history of high blood pressure, are risk factors for high blood pressure in a young woman.
Using birth control pills can cause hypertension, too.
Check your thyroid gland, cause its impaired hormone production, can lead to hypertension.
Diabetes needs to be taken in consideration, too.
Ultrasound of your heart will be a good idea.

And, about your initial question...short-term stress, indeed, can cause blood pressure to go up for a while, but, once the stress is relieved, the blood pressure readings returns to "normal."
Long-term stress can contribute to hypertension, but, is still unclear how much of an impact it may actually have.
Reducing the stress, can help alleviating the hypertension by making one feel better, reducing the need for alcohol or cigarettes and helping one to control overeating (the last mentioned things are the ones that have direct impact on hypertension)

Best wishes,
Marija