NINE-PEAT! GMC Prep captures ninth straight state championship

Fine arts.

Military schools.

These two items rarely are mentioned in the same breath.

Unless you're talking about Georgia Military College Prep.

The Dawgs' Literary Competition team won its ninth straight state championship over the weekend. This year's state title was especially sweet, as GMC hosted the competition on its home turf. 

Between Literary Competition and One Act Play, GMC Prep now has more Fine Arts state championships than any other high school in Georgia over the last 10 years. GMC has captured 14 state titles during that time, which is followed by Buford High with 12 and Bremen High with 10.

The Dawgs won last weekend's GHSA Class A Division B title by 42 points, which is an extremely large margin. For example, no other state champion in any of the other classifications in Georgia won by more than 16 points.

The GHSA Literary Competition dates all the way back to 1938, only a few years after Wally Butts was the football coach at GMC. For those not be completely familiar with Literary Competition, perhaps think of it as one part oratory contest and one part a cappella singing contest. The Georgia High School Association defines it as"a contest in communication of prose, poetry, and/or dramatic literature," adding that the "contest is built on communication - one in which the contestant communicates the author's meaning to the audience." 

The man with the plan is GMC Fine Arts Director Mark Weaver, who was hired by GMC in 2011 after previously serving as the fine arts director at Baldwin High. Weaver revived the GMC One Act Play troupe after the program hadn't been offered to students for 10 years, and the Dawgs' fine arts program has never looked back.

For the Literary team, Weaver serves as co-head coach alongside Jenny Morris...

The GHSA Literary Competition is scored similar to the state track and field meets, where there are individual state champions, as well as team state champions. A number of Dawgs claimed state titles over the weekend:

• Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking – Brian Sherwood, State Champ

• International Extemporaneous Speaking – Shriyansh Parekh, State Champ

• Solo Humorous Literary Interpretation - Emerson Ivey, State Champ

• Solo Dramatic Literary Interpretation - Nikki Knight, State Champ

• Duo Literary Interpretation –Alexis Waldroup and Nikki Knight, State Champs

• Argumentative Essay – William Steinfeld, State Champ

• Literary Analysis Essay - Caden Loyd, State Champs

• Girls Solo- Emerson Ivey, State Champs

• Trio- Emerson Ivey, Jacie Hartzog, Abigail Johnson, State Champs

Emerson Ivey

Ivey will go down as one of the most accomplished Literary Competition performers in GHSA history. She now owns a whopping 13 state championships –  Girls Solo (22, 23, 24,) Humorous (24,) Trio (23, 24,) Literary Team (21, 22, 23, 24,) One Act Play (21, 22, 23).  You can say the same for Knight, who finishes her high school career with 11 state titles – One Act Play (21, 22, 23,) Literary Team (22, 22, 23, 24,) Dramatic Interpretation (23, 24,) Humorous (22,) Duo Interpretation (24).

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