Free State teammates Kiara Clark, left, and Alexa Harmon-Thomas shake hands after taking the top two spots in the 300-meter hurdles, Saturday, May 31, 2014, at the Class 6A state track and field championships in Wichita. Harmon-Thomas won the event — and the 100 hurdles — as the Firebirds girls earned their second straight state championship.

Wichita ? Free State High’s girls track and field team won a state championship and seniors Alexa Harmon-Thomas and Bailey Sullivan were back at the top of the medal podium. It was deja vu all over again on Saturday at Cessna Stadium.

Harmon-Thomas won in the 100- and 300-meter hurdles for the second straight year while Sullivan defended her state title in the 1600, running the fastest time in Kansas this year and breaking the school record.

Meanwhile, the Firebirds repeated as Class 6A state champions, earning 97 points.

“It’s very exciting,” Free State coach Jordan Rose said. “It’s something that the kids have really been wanting. Almost every group contributed points so it was kind of a full team effort.”

Harmon-Thomas, a seven-time state champion and one of the most accomplished hurdlers in Kansas state history who missed most of the year with a stress reaction in her leg, ran the top time in Kansas this year during her victory in the 300 hurdles at 43.69. She won the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.67.

Was it the way Harmon-Thomas wanted to end her career?

“It definitely was,” she said with a big smile. “Not exactly the time I was looking for, but I can’t be mad. The first time I ran (the 300) was last Friday for over a year.”

In the 1600, Sullivan trailed Manhattan senior Alaina Schroeder on the final lap before sprinting past on the back stretch.

“When Alaina started to pull away on that third lap, I didn’t know, I was like, ‘Maybe I should just let her go.’ But then I told myself, ‘No, Bailey, you don’t want it to end like that,'” said Sullivan, who also finished second in the 800. “I was definitely scared going into that fourth lap. … I just dug with everything I had and fortunately I had it.”

Once Sullivan passed Schroeder, she heard the public address announcer saying she had a chance at running under five minutes, which was one of her season-long goals. She had an eye on the clock during her final effort towards the finish line.

She crossed the finish line in a school-record time of 4:59.43, and the 17th fastest time in Kansas state history.

“That was amazing,” Rose said. “That was so good. That race was definitely very emotional, a very good race. When you see a kid not only winning but breaking a school record and setting that kind of stuff in her last race in the mile, that was very exciting.”

Sullivan credited freshman teammate Emily Venters, who finished second in 5:03.84, for helping set the pace. Sophomore Claire Sanner topped her personal-record in the 1600 by more than three seconds (5:15.31) in a seventh place finish.

Just behind Harmon-Thomas, Clark finished second in the 300 hurdles with a time of 45.57 and fourth in the 100 hurdles. She ran just behind a personal-record time in the 300 hurdles she set during Friday’s prelims but was just as thrilled.

“I’m so happy because I just got that (Friday) and I honestly never thought it would happen,” Clark said. “When I saw it on the clock I was shocked. I didn’t expect it. I’m really grateful.”

Junior Gabbi Dabney took third in the 100 hurdles and placed seventh in the high jump.

The biggest smiles of the day came from Free State’s boys 4×100 relay team. Though they were seeded eighth, the team of senior Isaac King, freshman Avin Lane, junior Tyler O’Dell and sophomore Ronald White finished third in a personal-best time of 42.43.

“We did kind of poorly in prelims and today we just knew it was our last chance to really make an impact for our team, so we just killed it in that one,” King said. “We just all pushed it. …We were expecting eighth so we’re super happy now.”

The Firebirds’ boys team finished in 11th place, with 25 points. FSHS senior Lucas Werner contributed by finishing seventh in the javelin with a throw of 172 feet, 7 inches. He had a big throw that might have landed past 180 feet, but his footing was off by half of a step and he stepped past the line for a scratch.

Senior Stan Skwarlo set a new personal-record in the 800, 1:56.69, while taking third place. The Wichita State signee was happy with his run as he made a late push for first place in the last 200 meters, but couldn’t make up enough ground.

“I haven’t run 1:56 since my freshman year,” Skwarlo said. “It was nice to run on my home track, too, for next year. It was just a good day. It was a good way to go out.”