High School Track & Field: Crenshaw, four other locals on to state meet.

NORWALK — DeWayne Crenshaw wasn’t going to miss his daughter Felicia Crenshaw throw in Friday’s track and field meet. He lives in Cedar City, Utah. She was competing in the discus throw at the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet in Norwalk at 4:30 p.m.

Dad was driving, not flying, to the meet. He had a long road ahead of him, leaving his home at 4 a.m. to make the 440-mile drive to Cerritos College, the site of the meet.

The travel was all worth it to DeWayne, and it was because of how far he saw Felicia’s discus travel.

On her third throw, Felicia heaved the discus far. The distance measured 137 feet, 7 inches, surpassing the at-large qualifying mark to the CIF State finals by more than four feet. She advanced in record-breaking fashion. Felicia broke the Costa Mesa High record that she shared with Bonnie Dasse, who later went on to represent the United States at two Olympics, by almost two feet.

Felicia Crenshaw is only a sophomore. She has so much potential.

Crenshaw is one of two throwers from the Newport-Mesa Unified School District moving on to next week’s state meet at Buchanan High in Clovis. Joining her is Newport Harbor’s Cole Smith, who made it in both the boys’ shotput and discus events.

In all, five local athletes qualified for state. The others are Newport Harbor girls’ 100- and 300-meter hurdler Emma Kratzberg, and Sage Hill boys’ pole vaulter Alex Escalera and boys’ high jumper Chance Kuehnel.

All five of the area athletes got this far for the first time. For Crenshaw, having her father around helped.

“I couldn’t have done if it weren’t for my amazing track team [and] family behind me,” Crenshaw said. “My dad coming down, it meant the world to me. It is his second time seeing me throw the discus. I just wanted to make him proud and show him that I can do this.”

Crenshaw showed the field that she belonged on this stage. She finished third in the discus and was the youngest of the section’s seven qualifiers to state.

Sage Hill is sending two athletes to state for the first time. Escalera, a junior, turned in a personal-best mark of 15-6, taking second place in the pole vault. He topped his previous best by four inches.

For the third year in a row, a Sage Hill high jumper made it to state. CJ McCord appeared the last two years, and now it is Kuehnel’s turn. The senior took fourth in the high jump with a 6-7 effort.

“It’s my last meet for my high school career and I want to make it my best meet,” Kuehnel said.

Newport Harbor sent the most athletes to Masters, Smith, Kratzberg and Mike Jarboe. The first two qualified for state in two events, while Jarboe isn’t going in the shotput. The junior placed 11th with a mark of 52-8, short of at-large qualifying mark of 56.

Smith punched his ticket to state in the shotput on his first attempt, uncorking a 56-foot, ¼-inch effort, good enough for fifth place. He didn’t have to worry about the rest of his five throws.

The junior was concerned after his first five throws in the discus. None hit the at-large qualifying mark of 168-9. Smith waited until his sixth-and-final throw to move on to state in the discus.

“I made it!” Smith said, breathing a sigh of relief.

“I warmed up really well and I kind of lost the rhythm a little bit. I just had to find it again.”

Newport Harbor throws coach Tony Ciarelli was happy to see Smith become his first thrower to reach state in both the discus and shotput since Marty Taylor did three years ago.

“It’s about qualifying,” Ciarelli said.

It was also about eating for the three Sailors afterward.

There was a special trip to a restaurant Smith, Jarboe and Kratzberg earned for participating at Masters. Kratzberg definitely could order whatever she wanted with her runner-up performance in the 300 hurdles.

The Colorado State-bound senior became the first Orange County girl to best 42 seconds, finishing in 41.95. She broke the record set by ex-teammate Hope Bender (42.18).

Kratzberg, who also placed sixth in the 100 hurdles with a time of 14.28, Smith and Jarboe planned to eat with the coaching staff at Captain Jack’s in Sunset Beach, where they could order a main course and try something new.

david.carrillo@latimes.com

Twitter: @ByDCP