The Georgia Military College Prep girls track & field team successfully defended its state title.

MILLEDGEVILLE, Ga. — The Georgia Military College Prep School girls track & field team successfully defended its Georgia High School Association A-Public Division state title Saturday Albany.

The GMC Prep girls defeated second place Telfair County by a whopping final tally of 115-64.

The Lady Dogs had a hold on the points lead from the outset as Allie Kauzlarich and senior Emma Mercer finished second and fourth, respectively, in the 1600-meter run Thursday night.

Field events were held on Friday, and track standout Calli McMullen won the team’s first individual state championship of the weekend in the high jump. Abigail Kirkland finished fourth in the triple jump while Mary Elizabeth Jones was third in state in the discus. Emma Mercer followed up her fourth place finish in the 1-mile with a third place finish in the 2-mile, which was Friday’s last event.

The GMC Prep girls held a slim three-point lead at the beginning of Saturday’s events, but that advantage grew with each race. The day started on an exciting foot as the relay team of Lauryn Barber, McMullen, Taylor Curtis and Kirkland came from behind to win the 4×100 race by less than one-tenth of a second.

Kirkland went on to finish fourth in the 100-meter dash after anchoring 4×100 relay team.

McMullen kept the momentum going for the Lady Dogs by winning her third consecutive state title in the 400-meter dash and also finished second in the 200-meter.

Kauzlarich finished second and broke a school record in the 800-meter run for the GMC Prep girls.

The Lady Dogs left no doubt with two events remaining as Kirkland captured the state title in the 300-meter hurdles by more than two seconds. The 4×400 relay team of McMullen, Kirkland, Kauzlarich and Cire Foston won state in another close race that was decided by one-tenth of a second. The second GMC Prep relay team of Taylor Scott, Cade Bass, Taylor Curtis and Ciara Rice took home fourth in the last event of the weekend.

“One championship is difficult, but two in a row is rare,” said GMC Prep track coach Steven Simpson. “It shows the character of our young ladies. I can’t express how proud I am of them for coming back out this year and trying to out work the 2015 team. Our motto has been ‘Hard work pays off’ and in the end it did. I have to give much of the credit to coach Shawn Dennis, coach Andre Warthen and coach Laurie Simpson for helping to prepare this team everyday.”

Senior Calli McMullen, who will join the track team at West Point beginning this fall, was the GHSA A-Public State High Point Champion as she earned 33 points over the weekend. She finished her distinguished high school career as a two-time state team champion and won nine individual titles.

New GMC Prep School track records were set in the 1600-meter, 3200-meter, 800-meter, 300-meter hurdles, and 4×400 relay at the state meet in Albany.