Athlete of the Week: Mesa’s Crenshaw can throw with best of them

The reason why Felicia Crenshaw is a thrower and not a runner is due to her twin sister, Tayla.

Three years ago, they both took up the shotput as seventh-graders at Costa Mesa Middle School. Soon throwing lost its appeal with Felicia.

“But then my sister was getting super good at it, so I was like, ‘Oh, wait! She’s good at it?’” Felicia said. “[The other girls are] like, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘I’m going to beat her. I can do this. All you got to do is throw that metal ball? They’re like, ‘Yeah.’ I was like, ‘I can do that.’”

Ever since then, Felicia and Tayla have been throwing partners.

The two are now sophomores at Costa Mesa High and they compete in the same events on the girls’ track and field team, the discus throw and shotput, but they aren’t identical twins. You can tell the two apart. Felicia, who’s 5-foot-7, is an inch taller than Tayla, and Tayla always wears a blue baseball cap with the initials “MU” on it.

The “MU” is for the “Monsters University” movie, one of Tayla’s favorite films, but for Felicia right now, the “MU” means “Missing U” Tayla.

This week has been like no other for Felicia. Only one of the twins makes up the “field” part of the Costa Mesa team.

Training without Tayla has been odd for Felicia. The sisters are close. The sisters are competitors. The sisters are also supportive of each other.

Before each throw, the sisters lift one another up by saying, “Matthew 17:20.” The bible verse is a favorite of theirs, and it goes, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

Last Saturday, while going up against each other, the Crenshaw girls said the verse a lot during the CIF Southern Section Division 3 preliminaries at Jim Scott Stadium, hoping to finish in the top nine in the discus. Tayla barely missed the cut, finishing one spot out, 3 feet, 1 inch away from joining her sister at the next meet.

Felicia moved on with ease. She heaved the discus 135-8, recording the third-best mark. Coach Steve Moreno said the distance tied the Costa Mesa school record set in 1977 by Bonnie Dasse. Quite a feat when you consider Dasse went on to represent the U.S. at two Olympics, throwing the shotput in Seoul in 1988 and four years later in Barcelona.

“That is awesome,” said Felicia, who had no idea what Dasse accomplished after high school. “I’m really glad I know that. I hope I can do the same one day.”

Those Olympic aspirations are on hold right now for Felicia. Her result qualified her for Saturday’s CIF Southern Section championships at Cerritos College. She has never been to this stage or to the junior college stadium in Norwalk.

When Felicia goes, Tayla won’t be there to warm up with her, and there won’t be many teammates around. If they show up, they will be spectators.

Only Felicia Crenshaw and sprinter Paige LaBare, who made it in the 100 and 200 meters, will represent the Mustangs at the section finals. Once again, the top nine, this time regardless of division, in the events Crenshaw and LaBare are in get to keep their season alive.

“It doesn’t feel the same when it’s just like me and [LaBare],” Crenshaw said. “I love [LaBare], but like when it’s the whole team, we just feel like one big family.”

The best moments to Crenshaw don’t always take place at a big meet. They do before such a meet, whenever she and her team gather at Round Table Pizza in town.

Crenshaw, Moreno, throws coach Isaias Morales and LaBare hope to be eating a pizza together next week.

Crenshaw has a great shot to move on to the Masters meet. She holds the section’s eighth-best mark in the discus this year.

Leading up to the meet, Crenshaw trained off campus, at Jim Scott Stadium. At Costa Mesa, there’s no ring for Crenshaw to spin and throw. Construction of a football and track and field facility at Costa Mesa has forced Crenshaw to get creative during her workouts.

“We’ve been taking advantage of whatever asphalt or concrete we find available in and around the soccer fields, but that’s just for this year until our stadium is complete,” Moreno said. “It’s been challenging, but, you know, Felicia and the other throwers have adapted very well. We just use what we have and they have a great attitude out there.”

How Crenshaw has advanced this far is a testament to her determination and abilities.

She competes for not only herself, but also her family. She said she has the Crenshaw name to live up to, her father, DeWayne, and her brother, Oronde, both stood out on the football field for the Mustangs.

While DeWayne and Oronde played multiple sports in high school, they never had the kind of hectic athletic schedule as Crenshaw. She’s on her fourth sport right now, she did volleyball in the fall, and both soccer and basketball in the winter.

As for why she has tried so many sports, Crenshaw said it’s to show her three younger brothers, Devin, 10, Garry, 9, and Marlee, 7, that anything is possible.

“I want to show them that it’s not hard to achieve greatness,” Crenshaw said. “You just need to stick with it and push yourself.”

Crenshaw has conveyed that same message to her sister. Falling short of reaching the section finals has been hard for Tayla.

“She was sad. I was sad,” Crenshaw said. “It was weird [last Saturday], because when coach said, ‘Come to practice on Monday,’ I was like, ‘Ugh. I wish Tayla was here.’ She’ll make it next year. She’s a great athlete. She has so much potential.”

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Felicia Crenshaw

Born: Feb. 11, 1999

Hometown: Costa Mesa

Height: 5-foot-7

Sport: Track and field

Year: Sophomore

Coach: Steve Moreno

Favorite food: Pozole

Favorite movie: “Fairy Tail: Priestess of the Phoenix”

Favorite athletic moment: “I just love being around my team.”

Week in review: Crenshaw qualified third in the discus throw with a mark of 135 feet, 8 inches, tying a Costa Mesa school record and moved on to the CIF Southern Section championships.