EUGENE – The state track and field meet begins at 10 a.m. Thursday at Hayward Field on the campus of the University of Oregon in Eugene. The meet will draw hundreds of student-athletes from all over the state, including a number of athletes from the Umpqua Basin.

The meet starts with the 1A, 2A, and 3A classifications on Thursday and will add the rest of the classifications on Friday before the final day of the event on Saturday. There are 14 athletes from the Umpqua Basin in competition on the opening day and they represent six different schools.

One of the top story lines heading into the first day of the championship meet is whether or not Riddle’s Moana Gianotti can repeat as state champion in the 2A girl’s discus. As a sophomore, Gianotti won the event and broke the 2A meet record with a toss of 126-feet, 1-inch. This year, the junior has a chance to not only repeat, but also set a new record.

Earlier this season, Gianotti had a throw of 132-feet, 7-inches, which is 6.5 feet better than her championship throw from last year and it’s by far the best throw in the state at the 2A level this season. The toss is also 6th best in the state in any classification. Gianotti is expected to begin throwing at about 3:30 p.m.

Another top local storyline for the opening day at the state meet is whether or not Camas Valley’s Jazmin Wilberg or Oakland’s Sam Arts can win one of the three events they are entered in. Wilberg is competing in the javelin, 300 meter hurdles, and the 400 meter dash. Arts is running in the 300 meter hurdles, the 110 meter hurdles, and jumping in the pole vault competition.

Wilberg is the top-seed in the girl’s 400 meter dash, which will have its preliminary races around 2:40 p.m. Wilberg is running in the first heat. Sam Arts is the second-seed in the boy’s 300 meter hurdles, but his seed time is only fractions of a second slower than the top-seed. Arts runs in the second heat of the preliminaries around 5:30 p.m.

Find the full list of local athletes competing in Thursday’s events HERE.

– Joey Keeran | joey@bciradio.com | @joeykeeran