MANSFIELD — Regardless of the outcome Saturday night, Miss Clayland Sarah Clapper won’t walk away from the 2017 Miss Ohio Scholarship Program empty-handed.

The 22-year-old graduate of The Ohio State University has already won two preliminary competitions — the lifestyle and fitness contest on Thursday night and then the talent competition on Friday night.  

For her talent, she performed Calvin Jones’ “Whitewater Chopped Sticks” on the piano, which she learned through the Suzuki Method (by ear).

“I’ve always been able to just pick up songs by listening,” she said. 

The five-time Miss Ohio contestant was a competitive gymnast for 13 years and used to perform dance numbers for her talent in the Miss Ohio pageant.

“Unfortunately when I was a sophomore in high school, I sustained back injuries, ending my gymnastics career… After my third year at Miss Ohio, my doctors told me I was done dancing and I was left to decide what I wanted to do at that point,” she said.

“I didn’t want to give up on my dream of becoming Miss Ohio and Miss America, so I asked my aunt to help me learn how to play “Whitewater Chopped Sticks,” and so I’ve been working with her, as well as Katrina Cortes of the Powell Academy of Music, as well as Calvin Jones himself, the composer of “Whitewater Chopped Sticks.”

Also on Friday night, Miss North Coast Paige Wiers won the lifestyle and fitness preliminary contest.

The 21-year-old Calvin College nursing student credited her brother, Hunter, for helping her get in shape.

“He was kind of like my personal trainer for the last month,” she said.

“A big part of my lifestyle is choosing to eat healthy, but also choosing sustainable options like choosing vegan meals once a week or choosing to walk upstairs instead of taking the elevator.”

She donned a black two-piece on the Renaissance stage, drawing inspiration from Miss America 2016 Savvy Shields, who wore a black swimsuit in the Miss America pageant.

This is Wiers’ second year at Miss Ohio.

In total, 19 contestants are vying for the title of Miss Ohio 2017 and a $10,000 scholarship from Dr. Pepper/Snapple Group.

Contestants’ scores are based on a private interview (25 percent), lifestyle and fitness (15 percent), talent (35 percent), evening wear (20 percent) and an on-stage question (5 percent).

The competition will conclude Saturday when 10 semifinalists re-compete in lifestyle and fitness, talent, evening wear and on-stage question. 

The winner will head to Atlantic City this September for the Miss America pageant.