A year of hard work is about to come to a head for track and field athletes around the Twin Harbors as the state track and field championship meets begin on Thursday.

Raymond High School’s best chance to win gold medals rest on the right arm of Karlee Freeman. Freeman, who has established herself as arguably the greatest girls thrower in state history, is the three-time reigning state champion in the discus and her personal-record distance of 173 feet, seven-and-a-half inches, is the third best throw in the nation this season.

Not a one-trick pony, Freeman also has the best shot put distance in the state this year (46-10.50), a mark that also has her ranked 16th in the country. Her javelin distances have been just as impressive as she is ranked second in the 2B with a personal record of 130-01.

The USC-bound thrower even found success in the 100-meter dash and came up with a 12.81 in the event to take third at districts and qualify for state.

Freeman’s personal-record performance was good enough for third place behind two other local sate hopefuls — North Beach’s Lorin Cox and South Bend’s Hannah Byington.

Cox and Byington finished first and second, respectively, at the 2B district meet and are ranked third and fourth in the the 2B section.

Cox has put the competition on notice this season with a season-best time of 12.77 at the district meet which is just a touch slower than the personal best she set her freshman year (12.74). The sophomore is no slouch in the 200-meter dash either, achieving a personal-best time of 26.68 to win the district title.

Byington finished second at districts in the 200-meter dash (26.80) and is ranked fourth in the 2B after posting a 26.66 at the sub-district meet a week earlier.

Aberdeen boasts a pair of runners with 2A state title hopes with Bryan Sidor and Faith Cardenas.

Sidor is headed to the state meet in Tacoma with the hopes of improving on last year’s result, where he took second in the 400 with a time of 50.28. Sidor seems to be headed on the right path to grab gold as he posted a personal record and 2A-best time of 49.27 at the district championships.

The Central Washington-bound senior is also shaving time off of his 200 meter runs, posting a personal best at districts (22.06) which is down from the time he ran in the event at last season’s state meet (22.19), where he placed fifth.

Like Sidor, Cardenas also has a shot at finishing atop the podium in the 200 and 400 meters.

The University of San Francisco commit currently has the seventh best time on the 2A 400 meters leaderboard with a time of 59.19, putting her less than two seconds off of the fastest time in the district.

In the 200, Cardenas posted the fastest time of her career (26.26) at the district meet on Saturday. But she will need to shave off almost two seconds to catch Imani Keys of Washington High School who hit a personal record earlier this season with a time of 24.80.

Elma is bringing some skilled throwers to state this year with Ben Bridge and Jalyn Sackrider.

Sackrider’s shot put distance of 37-01.50 at the sub-district meet on May 11. Sackrider’s recent performances allowed her to take gold at districts and sub-districts with her personal-best numbers. She currently sits in seventh place in the 1A rankings.

Bridge has been solid in the discus this year and is ranked 10th in the 1A despite not yet reaching last year’s best distance of 143-10.

Elma sophomore Jillian Bieker has been making some noise in the 300-meter hurdles and is ranked 10th in the league (47.70). Bieker is about two seconds behind Chewelah’s Lillian Kirry (45.73) who won the event at her district meet and will likely need to shave some more time to earn a medal.

Hoquiam’s Karlie Krohn has established herself as a threat to medal in the javelin after winning the event at sub-districts and the district championship. Krohn put up her best marks of the year at districts when she came away with a distance of 120-04.

If the other top ranked throwers in the league match their best throws, Krohn would need to improve her throw by a little more than 10 feet to have a chance to catch athletes like River View’s Morgan Munson who posted a 136-01 earlier this season.

If the results at districts are any indication Montesano’s best event at state could be in the boys and girls 400-meter races.

On the boys side of the track, Monte’s Donovan Albert ran a personal-record time at districts (50.81). Albert’s times rank him fourth in the 1A section and puts him approximately one second off the pace of LaSalle’s Peterson Bohanon, who put up a 49.73 at a sub-district meet on May 11.

Freshman Madolyn Olson doesn’t seem to be phased by the competition in her first year of varsity track and is peaking at the right time with a personal best at districts (61.58). That time has her four seconds off the pace of 1A 400 leader, Lakeside’s Faith Kennedy (57.64), but Olson can be a threat to medal since she has shaved almost two seconds off her time since the beginning of the year.

The 1B, 2B and 1A state meets will be held at Eastern Washington University in Cheney while the 2A meet will take place at Mount Tahoma Stadium in Tacoma. Both meets begin Thursday and run through Saturday.

For more information on the WIAA state track and field championships, visit http://wiaa.com/subcontent.aspx?SecID=1165.