Spinning success: Hanford's Katelynn Gelston in search of a few WIAA Class 4A girls throws titles in Tacoma

As soon as friends of Katelynn Gelston storm into her bedroom, they are reminded of her fixation.

Hanging on the Hanford High School senior's walls are two track and field-superstar posters - one of historic U.S. Olympic-qualifying hub Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, and the other is of Vancouver’s Kara Winger, one of the nation’s top women's javelin throwers from Skyview High School.

On her nightstand is a framed postcard of Mac Wilkins, one of her discus-throwing coaches who won the gold medal in the 1976 Summer Olympics.

And when Gelston is not poring over self-reminder scribbles in her stack of journals, she is usually on her phone looking at meet results.

"I definitely love track,” Gelston said. "Friends will come over and ask what I am looking at, and it’s usually (results site) Athletic.net.

"They think it’s a problem at this point."

It's Gelston's passion - one that will lead her next fall to compete at Oregon State University.

But first, Gelston has a Class 4A state meet to compete at starting Thursday at Star Track at Mount Tahoma Stadium.

As the only athlete with top-five Washington marks in all three primary throwing events (discus, shot put, javelin), Gelston is the overwhelming favorite to win the girls' discus. Her personal-best throw of 160 feet, 5 inches ranks No. 10 in the nation this spring.

Her distances in the shot put (43-4) and javelin (135-1) are No. 5 overall in the state - and No. 2 in 4A.

As far as school records in the throws? She has set - and reset - them 16 times during her career, Hanford track and field coach Darren Crow said.

"When she steps into the arena," Crow said, "a meet record is probably following her out of it."

This spring alone, she has broken nine meet records - and set the Mid-Columbia Conference mark with her 160-5 at the conference championship meet two weeks ago.

"When I was a middle-school track coach, in fourth and fifth grade, she would watch the throws at meets," said Robert Gelston, her father. "She picked all of it up so naturally."

After beginning to study old Wilkins' instructional videos in seventh grade, she attended the Iron Wood Thrower Development Camp in Idaho and learned a few things from the former four-time world men's discus record-holder in person.

And yet, a few notable coaches, as well as her father, think Gelston could be a national-caliber javelin thrower if she solely focused on that event.

"It's a weird (event) for me," said Katelynn Gelston, who said she often rehearsed that throwing motion by tossing the football with her brother in the family's large backyard.

"I can go multiple weeks without practicing it, and then I will pick it up agains throw it 5 feet farther than the last time. The less I overthink it, the better it is for me - and the more relaxed I am."

For now, discus is her first love - and Gelston broke out in April by winning the prestigious Arcadia Invitational with a personal-best mark (at the time) of 156-0 to edge California teenager Feyi Olukanni (150-1).

"It definitely kick-started my season," Gelston said. "After Arcadia, something clicked, and it was consistently 150 (feet on throws) in practice."

And now she tries for the 4A state trifecta this weekend in Tacoma.

"I do have high hopes for this weekend," Gelston said. "If somebody beats me, I do hope it's with solid marks."