Miss New South Tanner Fant and Miss North Central Mississippi Brooke Bullock each claimed a second win during the final night of the Miss Mississippi Pageant preliminary competition.

Fant, who talent Wednesday, was the winner of the swimwear phase of the competition and Bullock, who won swimsuit Thursday, won in talent.

“All that hard work paid off,” Fant said. “This has been a goal of mine. I love talent, but this was something I had to work hard on mentally and physically and to see that it paid off means the world to me.”

To prepare for the swimwear phase of the competition, Fant said she and her Dad would get in early morning workouts.

“My dad and I would wake up at 5 a.m. and work out. We have a big work out crew with some of the greatest Starkville community members,” Fant said. “I really owe it to my Dad and his work out crew. They helped me get this way.”

And instead of counting calories, Fant said she tries to invest in eating healthy.

“And that comes from protein and vegetables and a cheat meal every now and then,” she said.

Bullock, too, was excited to be name a double preliminary winner.

“I still can’t believe it. I don’t have any words,” Bullock said. “I was so excited to be named the talent winner because that is something I have worked very hard on, really my whole life.”

For the talent phase of the competition, Bullock performed “Tarantella” by Pieczonka on the piano.

Bullock said she has been playing the piano for 13 years and now has eight students of her own.

“I always tell my students to practice, practice, practice, so I have to be a living example of that, so this is really a moment that kind of encompasses all of the things I have worked towards whether it was my own lessons or my teaching lessons that I give to students,” she said.

Bullock said she learned the piece she performed when she was 13 years old and over time has added to and perfected it.

“A lot of people don’t understand that it takes at least a year to really learn and perfect a piece,” she said.

And for students who are interested in learning how to play the piano, Bullock said to stick with it.

“It took me four years to love piano. For the first three years I wanted to quite, but my mother made me stay and I am so glad because it taught me how to be patient and to work towards a long term goal,” Bullock said.

The final night of competition will be held tonight at the Vicksburg Convention Center where the top finalist will be named and Miss Mississippi 2018 will be crowned.

A composite score from the three preliminary competitions in talent, swimwear, eveningwear, on-stage question and judges interviews will determine who will be in the top 10 and the winner of the People’s Choice Award will also compete.