For Shari Marvel of Cape Girardeau, the "wow" was worth it.

"I put my gown on and my 11-year-old son said, `wow,'" Marvel recalled as she and 10 other contestants rehearsed Friday for the Mrs. Missouri United States Pageant.

Melanie Duncan of New Madrid, a high school math teacher, won the state pageant Saturday night before a crowd of several hundred at the Holiday Inn Convention Center in Cape Girardeau.

She will represent Missouri in the national pageant, held annually in Las Vegas.

First runner-up was Jackie Griffith of Scott City, an administrative secretary for Union Electric; second runner-up was Jana Jateff of Cape Girardeau, senior sales director for Mary Kay Cosmetics; third runner-up was Pat McDonald of Sikeston, who operates a food mart and other businesses in East Prairie with her husband; and fourth runner-up was Teresa Staten of Poplar Bluff, who owns a leasing company with her husband.

The 1992 Mrs. Missouri and runners-up received scholarships, among other prizes.

A half-hour, edited version of the pageant will be aired on KBSI-TV Saturday at 6 p.m. The Cape Girardeau television station was a major sponsor of this year's Mrs. Missouri pageant.

"It's not a bathing beauty pageant. It's a pageant to pay tribute to and honor married women," said Deborah McConnell, director of the state pageant, headquartered in Cape Girardeau.

This year's contestants ranged in age from 27 to 48, she said. "You have to be at least 21 and married," McConnell said.

Contestants were graded on the basis of interviews, and swimsuit and evening gown competition. The interview counted for 50 percent of the score, with the other two categories each accounting for 25 percent.

This is the sixth year for the national pageant and the second year for the state pageant.

"They don't really stress this as a beauty contest. They stress the beauty that is within," said McDonald.

Other contestants in this year's pageant were Donna Adams of Charleston, who works for a radio station; Darla Beggs of Jackson, a flight attendant with TWA; Emily Modlin of Campbell, who works for Job Service; Valerie Reid of Fenton, a senior savings counselor; and Darlene Bullar of St. Louis, a homemaker and temporary service employee.

Marvel, who works in sales for LDD in Cape Girardeau, said that entering the pageant was something she wanted to do for herself.

"I thought about myself; whenever I get old and gray and wrinkled, I would look back on it and regret if I didn't do it," she said.

Although she has done some modeling, Marvel said that being in a pageant is different. "It's different because (in modeling) you are showing the clothes, not showing yourself."

She said she and other contestants obtained sponsors to help pay the cost of participating in the pageant. Contestants had to pay entrance fees of about $500 and buy their clothes, including expensive evening gowns.

McDonald said her family has enthusiastically supported her participation in the pageant, particularly her three daughters who have been in other pageants themselves.

She said her husband even video taped a fashion show that the contestants participated in at West Park Mall Friday afternoon.

"I feel I have already grown as a person and know more about myself," said McDonald, who hasn't been in a pageant since high school.

Griffith said she was encouraged to enter the pageant by Melody Hutson of Cape Girardeau, a friend and the winner of last year's Mrs. Missouri contest.

Griffith said she enjoyed the glamour of the pageant. "What woman doesn't like to wear a long, pretty gown?"

Beggs, who was Miss Oran in 1982, said she entered the contest as a way "to build self confidence in myself."

For Beggs, flying is easy. She's been a flight attendant for 5 years. Participating in a beauty pageant is a different story. "I think that is harder," she said while rehearsing with other contestants Friday afternoon.

For Jateff, this was her second attempt to win the Mrs. Missouri title. Last year, she was first runner-up.

"It is a tremendous growing experience for a woman," she said. "You really have to search yourself as for as values and goals in life."

Said Jateff, "It really promotes the married woman, the values. It promotes being a wife and mother."

And for the contestants, there's also another attraction to the pageant, she said. "It gives you a glamorous feeling."