The young athletes qualified at the regional championships where a number set personal best times to go into the state championships full of confidence.

Madelynne Zouein qualified in the under-13 girls 100 metres sprint with a time of 13.51 seconds at the regionals, after breaking the zone championship record in Decmeber lowering the mark to 13.36 seconds after it had stood at 13.4 since 2009.

Madelynne will also compete in the 200 metres at the state titles after finishing third at regionals in a time of 28.54s.

In other state qualifying efforts at the regional titles, Myles Crosdale is off to his first NSW titles after winning the under-9 discus with a throw of 19.21 and finishing second in shot put with 6.5m.

Ella Hokin finished second in the under-11 girls shot put with a throw of 7.51 metres.

In the under-13 boys Michael McCarty was second in the 100m sprint (12.67 seconds), third in the 200m sprint (27.8) and third in shot put (10.44m.

Drew Dodgson had three gold-medal performances in under-15 field events throwing 13.27m in shot put, 51.04m in discus and 42.67m with the javelin.

Joanna Whitely is off to the state titles are finishing fourth in the under-17 girls shot put with a throw of 10.61m.

The Cessnock team are confident of success with the Hunter regional titles among the most competitive in the state.