Romanda Walker placed at the back of Beryl Holzbach of Virginia. The annual event is open to women 18 and older, and beyond that it has not one limits on age or incident to a husband status.

Walker, 30, a native of Florissant who holds the title of Ms. Wheelchair Missouri, is a graduate student at MU. She is pursuing a degree that encompasses areas of biology using applied mathematics, statistics, computer science, biochemistry and other disciplines to answer biological questions.

Walker, who was born with a spinal muscular atrophy that confined her to a wheelchair, has spent five of the past six summers working by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in St. Louis. She doesn