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Between her senior year of high school and her freshman year of college, four members of Mariah Rice's extended family died. The losses left Rice sinking in a deep sadness.

Her depression eventually led to other problems. "It escalated to where I wasn't happy with anything," she said.

After completing two semesters of classes at Virginia Commonwealth University, Rice decided she needed to take some time to confront her grief and her problem with bulimia.

"It turned out to be one of the greatest things that happened," she said.

Through counseling, Rice healed. "I didn't agree with medicative therapy," said the 23-year-old. "I think a lot of people need structured communication."

During Rice's break from school, someone suggested she might try to earn money for college through the Miss Virginia Organization. "Goodness," she thought. "This is perfect."

Indeed it was. Saturday night, Rice made her fourth try for the Miss Virginia crown and won, meaning she took home $16,000 for college.

No doubt, part of the reason she nabbed the crown was because of her sincerity for her platform, a social cause contestants adopt to promote if selected to represent Virginia. Rice's chosen issue was a deeply personal one: Fighting insecurity in today's teens.

In 2003, she worked with the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders to remove negative body images from different Web sites. Rice also hopes that talking about her struggle will inspire younger people.

"It's a story of triumph," she said.

When Rice first got interested in pageants, Donna Rice admitted she did question whether her daughter's eating disorder might return. "You have a concern," she said.

Stuart Koman, a psychologist and chief executive of Walden Behavioral Care in Waltham, Mass., a facility that works with eating-disorder patients, said he would have worries about a patient who had suffered from an eating disorder in the past entering a pageant.

With pageants a woman usually works to look her best which, Koman pointed out, "in this society would be equated with being thin.

"You're putting yourself in a risky position," he said.

But Donna Rice said her daughter hasn't had any problems. "That's been just fine."

Rice, who won the swimsuit competition in Friday's preliminary competition, said she did lose 12 pounds for the pageant, but was adamant she didn't resort to dangerous methods to shed the weight. "It was in no way related to my disorder and past."

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After she heard the announcer name her daughter as the new Miss Virginia, Donna Rice was so busy screaming she missed the actual moment Mariah was crowned.

"It all happened so quick," said Donna Rice, who works for the Department of Motor Vehicles.

This night had been a long time coming. In 2002, Rice had been first runner-up. Last year, she came in fifth.

What made her winning material this year?

Steve Musselwhite, co-executive director of the Miss Virginia organization, said he thinks Rice simply had the passion to win.

"I've never seen a contestant who's worked so hard and prepared so much," he said.

For this year's pageant, Rice honed her interviewing skills as well as transformed her long, straight dark locks into a light brown, curly 'do. For the talent competition, Rice danced to "I Am Changing," a routine she said was more upbeat than in year's past. "This year I was sassy," Rice said.

Rice said her win was bittersweet because she knows that Saturday had to be a disappointing night for the handful of contestants who, like her, were taking one final shot at Miss Virginia before they "aged out" (contestants have to between the ages of 17 and 24 in September of the year they compete).

"We were competing against each other," she said. "You know only one of us could win."

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The day after being named Miss Virginia, Rice found herself getting a whiff of an odor she'd never smelled before: the scent of a new car.

In addition to the scholarship money, the thousands of dollars she'll receive in appearance fees, and a furnished apartment at Pebble Creek in Roanoke County, Miss Virginia also receives the use of a new set of wheels for one year.

Rice's gold ash 2005 Mercury Sable won't be delivered for a few weeks, but Hayward Statum, owner of Friendly Lincoln Mercury, brought over a maroon sedan for press photos.

Overwhelmed, Rice couldn't help herself. She hugged the car.

You'd be delirious with happiness too if you'd been driving a 1990 Geo Storm with no shocks for the past several years. "'Look honey, the tires actually have tread,'" Mariah's father, antiques salesman Harry Rice, said of the car, she said.

After she finishes her yearlong stint as Miss Virginia, Rice plans to return to VCU, where she hopes to double-major in mass communications and dance and choreography. When Rice graduates, she said she'll be the first in her family to receive a college degree. Someday she'd like to own a dance studio.

For the next 12 months, though, Rice will stay busy traveling to parades and festivals, not to mention preparing for the Miss America pageant Sept. 18.

In Atlantic City, N.J., Rice will have some big shoes to fill. Nancy Redd, last year's Miss Virginia, was a top 10 finalist at the national pageant.

Rice isn't worried that the bar has been set too high, though. "You just have to think of yourself as an individual," she said. "You can't compare yourself to past Miss Virginias."

On the Net:

missva.com