Sarah Clapper, 22, of Columbus was crowned as Miss Ohio 2017 on Saturday night at the Renaissance Theatre.
She will now compete in the Miss America 2018 pageant to be held in Atlantic City on September 10th 2017. The event will be broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company (ABC). Miss America 2017 Savvy Shields from Arkansas will officially crown her successor.
Clapper was a double preliminary winner this week at Miss Ohio. She won Friday night's preliminary talent award for her piano rendition of "White Water Chopped Sticks." She was also the preliminary lifestyle and fitness winner.
She was overwhelmed as her name was announced as the winner because she almost gave up her dream of becoming Miss Ohio and Miss America when her mother became sick in July 2016.
Sarah Clapper, making her fifth trip to the Miss Ohio stage said that she suffered from back injuries when she was a competitive gymnast in high school, so she can't run or do anything that compresses her spine.
The first three years she competed at Miss Ohio as a dancer, until doctors told her that her dancing days were over. So she turned to the piano which she learnt from her aunt. She won the title of Miss Ohio by performing "White Water Chopped Sticks’’ on piano in her talent round.