Third time is the charm for Tayla Crenshaw at Mt. SAC Relays

It seemed appropriate that the main attraction in Southern California’s track and field landscape took place west of Orange County on Saturday.

The sun has begun to set on the regular season, with the Mt. SAC Relays marking the final invitational for most local athletes.

The meet took place at El Camino College for the second year in a row as construction continues at Hilmer Lodge Stadium on the campus of Mt. San Antonio College.

With the road to state fast approaching, it was the most-experienced locals that made their mark at the meet.

Costa Mesa High’s Felicia and Tayla Crenshaw looked prepared to make another deep run through the CIF postseason. As juniors last year, the twins competed at the state meet together for the first time.

While Felicia has always performed slightly better than her sister’s marks, it was Tayla’s turn to make a breakthrough.

Tayla Crenshaw obliterated her previous personal record in the girls’ discus throw. Her new career-best mark stands at 142 feet, 11 inches, which was good for fourth in the invitational flight.

Coming into the year, Tayla possessed a personal-best of 136-9. On Saturday, her series included three throws that beat that mark, including two throws over 140 feet.

“I’m really happy,” Tayla said of achieving her new lifetime best. “I’ve been scratching it. At Arcadia and O.C. Champs, I scratched 140, so I knew it was in me.”

The Mustangs senior said that she told another competitor at the event that the third time would be the charm. She was right.

“I think I just went in there with confidence in my throws,” Tayla added. “All the technique I’ve been doing in practice, I just let it translate into the ring.”

Felicia Crenshaw remained right on schedule, finishing third in the event with a mark of 148-10.

Newport Harbor throws coach Tony Ciarelli did not sound satisfied with the outcome of Saturday’s action when it came to his own athletes.

He took one silver lining from the Mt. SAC Relays – that it was a regular-season meet. He called for urgency, recognizing that one bad day could be the end of the season from this point forward. League finals serve as the first of the elimination rounds en route to the state meet.

“I keep telling them, ‘Sooner or later, it’s now or never,’ and it’s now or never,” Ciarelli said. “That’s what it becomes right after this meet.

“It’s league finals, and then Division 2 is the toughest division. We have no straight line to CIF finals because Division 2 is really tough. If we have a bad day, we won’t make CIF finals.”

Aidan Elbettar fouled out in the boys’ discus seeded flight, while Spencer Blake finished last in the boys’ shotput invitational (46-4¾).

Blake had better luck in the boys’ discus invitational competition, placing 10th with a mark of 167-7.

Marina’s Skyler Magula placed second in the boys’ pole vault at 15 feet.

The slogan of the Mt. SAC Relays is “Where the world’s best athletes compete.” Although Magula did not take in much of the action elsewhere, he had a front row seat for an international talent in Argentina’s Pablo Zaffaroni.

Zaffaroni displayed incredible endurance, taking a total of 15 jumps in winning the event at 17-3. He conquered three bars on his third attempt.

On Friday, locals raced in the prestigious Brooks distance races. Newport Harbor’s Alexis Garcia ran a lifetime best 9 minutes 14.74 seconds in the boys’ 3,200.

Garcia also joined a team of Mikael Campo, Michael Davey and Luke Downing that clocked in at 18:03.66 in the mile relay, the fastest time ran by a team from Orange County in the race.

In the boys’ mile, Huntington Beach’s Lars Mitchel placed 14th with a time of 4:19.8.

Fountain Valley’s Ashley Faller placed 13th in the girls’ 1,600 (5:12.1), and Costa Mesa’s Diane Molina took 13th in the girls’ 3,200 (11:04.93).

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BOYS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Mt. SAC Relays

At El Camino College

100 – 1. Hampton (Yucaipa) 10.51; 2. Shakir-Ricks (Murrieta Mesa) 10.73; 3. Glasser (Marin Catholic) 10.77; 4. Burns (Trabuco Hills) 10.87; 5. Roberson (Upland) 10.88

200 – 1. Shakir-Ricks (Murrieta Mesa) 21.35; 2. Burns (Trabuco Hills) 21.83; 3. Reed (Long Beach Poly) 21.90; 4. Okonkwo (Murrieta Mesa) 21.94; 5. Page (Gardena Serra) 22.08

400 – 1. Strader (Trinity Classical) 47.77; 2. Okonkwo (Murrieta Mesa) 48.46; 3. Selah (Branham) 48.51; 4. Page (Gardena Serra) 48.67; 5. Borquez (Harvard-Westlake) 48.82

800 – 1. Alexander (Vanden) 1:52.62; 2. Van Dorpe (Mater Dei) 1:53.21; 3. Taylor (Corona Roosevelt) 1:53.47; 4. Opsahl (Redlands East Valley) 1:53.54; 5. Moreland (Campbell Hall) 1:53.65

Brooks Mile – 1. Cleveland (Volcano Vista) 4:09.42; 2. Court (Mira Costa) 4:12.43; 3. Martinez (Ayala) 4:13.81; 4. Miranda (Menlo School) 4:14.02; 5. Rosenthal (High Tech) 4:15.23; 14. L. Mitchel (Huntington Beach) 4:19.80

Brooks 3,200 – 1. Hazell (El Camino Real) 9:00.60; 2. Chahal (Burbank Burroughs) 9:00.61; 3. Martinez de Pini (Cathedral Catholic) 9:04.41; 4. Woodward (Corona Centennial) 9:06.11; 5. Cain (Cibola) 9:06.26; 12. Garcia (Newport Harbor) 9:14.74

110HH – 1. Marshall (Stockton St. Mary’s) 14.10; 2. Roberson (Upland) 14.15; 3. Butt (Carson) 14.17; 4. Jackman (Clayton Valley) 14.27; 5. Robbins (Tesoro) 14.63

300IH – 1. Roberson (Upland) 38.24; 2. Rash (Riverside King) 38.26; 3. Porter (Silverado) 38.63; 4. Hill (Mission Viejo) 38.70; 5. Kruki (El Toro) 38.76

400 relay – 1. Murrieta Mesa 41.65; 2. Great Oak 41.71; 3. Long Beach Poly 41.76; 4. Harvard-Westlake 42.17; 5. Yucaipa 42.31

1,600 relay – 1. Murrieta Mesa 3:16.22; 2. Centennial 3:18.70; 3. Valencia 3:20.90; 4. Upland 3:21.02; 5. Gardena Serra 3:22.30

4x1,600 relay – 1. Great Oak 17:25.02; 2. Crescenta Valley 17:30.01; 3. West Ranch 17:33.26; 4. Corona Roosevelt 17:40.39; 5. Newbury Park 17:41.90; 12. Newport Harbor 18:03.66

HJ – 1. Lee (Trabuco Hills) 7-2; 2. Hicks (Clayton Valley) 6-10; 3. Flucas (Cerritos) 6-6; 4. Baylis (Bishop Montgomery) 6-4; 5. Tabales (Long Beach Millikan) 6-2; 6. Wiseman (Huntington Beach) 6-2; 7. Garnett (Edison) 6-2

LJ – 1. Stevenson (Great Oak) 23-9¼; 2. Fernandez (Cathedral Catholic) 22-7¼; 3. Grein (Turlock) 22-4¾; 4. Pekar (Ventura) 22-3½; 5. Mitchell (Point Loma) 21-10¾

TJ – 1. Mendez (Uzzi) 49-9; 2. Massie (Hesperia) 46-11¼; 3. Hemphill (Upland) 46-7½; 4. Mitchell (Point Loma) 46-6¾; 5. Berney (Valencia) 45-5¼

PV – 1. Zaffaroni (Escuela Superior Mariano Moren) 17-3; 2. Magula (Marina) 15-0; 3. Valles (Canyon Country Canyon) 15-0; 4. Sheldon (Mission Hills) 15-0; 5T. Dyrek (Santa Monica) 14-6; 5T. Carranza (Whittier California) 14-6

SP – 1. Aviles (Ventura) 63-1¼; 2. Holm (Long Beach Millikan) 60-1¾; 3. Duensing (Esperanza) 59-5¾; 4. Lyons (Sherman Oaks Notre Dame) 57-9¾; 5. Lopez (Canyon Country Canyon) 57-7; 13. Elbettar (Newport Harbor) 51-8½; 16. Blake (Newport Harbor) 46-4¾

DT – 1. Moore Jr. (Liberty) 187-11; 2. Aviles (Ventura) 187-3; 3. Cruz (Newbury Park) 184-7; 4. Navarro (Great Oak) 184-4; 5. Stephens (Simi Valley) 181-7; 10. Blake (Newport Harbor) 167-7

DT Seeded – Elbettar (Newport Harbor) FOUL

GIRLS’ TRACK AND FIELD

Mt. SAC Relays

At El Camino College

100 – 1. Augustine (Long Beach Poly) 11.67; 2. Okoro (Amador Valley) 11.75; 3. Frost (Gardena Serra) 11.77; 4. Hickey (Coronado) 12.02; 5. Okoh (Gardena Serra) 12.12

200 – 1. Nowling (Calabasas) 24.03; 2. Augustine (Long Beach Poly) 24.05; 3. Frost (Gardena Serra) 24.39; 4. Daye (Upland) 24.51; 5. Medley (El Toro) 24.54

400 – 1. Medley (El Toro) 54.71; 2. Meadors (Chino Hills) 55.67; 3. Prude (Bonita) 55.77; 4. Johnson (Quartz Hill) 56.38; 5. Babineaux (Quartz Hill) 56.57

800 – 1. Ramirez (Ayala) 2:11.89; 2. Sanacore (Los Alamitos) 2:12.23; 3. George (Santa Margarita) 2:12.43; 4. Johnson (Mission Viejo) 2:12.95; 5. Morales (Scripps Ranch) 2:13.61

Brooks Mile – 1. Castillo (Saugus) 4:45.24; 2. Brown (La Costa Canyon) 4:47.01; 3. Ramirez (Ayala) 4:50.0; 4. Herberg (Capistrano Valley) 4:52.06; 5. Hwang (Claremont) 4:58.14; 13. Faller (Fountain Valley) 5:12.10

Brooks 3,200 – 1. Denner (Oak Ridge) 10:08.01; 2. Lane (Malibu) 10:18.68; 3. Cruz-Albrecht (Oak Park) 10:18.74; 4. Frentheway (Cheyenne Central) 10:27.49; 5. Shulze (Oak Park) 10:41.57; 13. Molina (Costa Mesa) 11:04.93

SMR – 1. Chino Hills 4:04.48; 2. Oaks Christian 4:05.81; 3. South Pasadena 4:06.99; 4. Arcadia 4:08.36; 5. Great Oak 4:11.33

100HH – 1. Hicks (Upland) 13.54; 2. Dyer (Temecula Valley) 13.82; 3. Greene (Carter) 14.16; 4. Witt (Birmingham) 14.37; 5. Grady (Upland) 14.64

300IH – 1. Robinson-Hubbard (Calabasas) 42.31; 2. Payne (Long Beach Poly) 42.47; 3. Brown (Segerstrom) 42.68; 4. Greene (Carter) 43.76; 5. Jenkins (JW North) 44.74

400 relay – 1. Upland 45.71; 2. Long Beach Poly 45.97; 3. Gardena Serra 46.15; 4. Calabasas 46.72; 5. Etiwanda 47.45

1,600 relay – 1. Dana Hills 3:47.68; 2. Bonita 3:49.39; 3. Centennial 3:56.75; 4. Mission Hills 3:56.79; 5. Arcadia 3:57.53

SMR – 1. Chino Hills 4:04.48; 2. Oaks Christian 4:05.81; 3. South Pasadena 4:06.99; 4. Arcadia 4:08.36; 5. Great Oak 4:11.33

HJ – 1. Hickey (Coronado) 5-10; 2. Porpaczy (Semiahmoo Secondary) 5-8; 3. Kaufman (Harvard-Westlake) 5-6; 4. Moneymaker (Ayala) 5-2; 5T. Kolarik (Newbury Park) 5-2; 5T. Plummer (Moorpark) 5-2

LJ – 1. Turner (Carson) 19-05¼; 2. Young (Carson) 19-2¼; 3. Smith (Upland) 18-8; 4. Hill (Redondo Union) 18-7¾; 5. Romo (Ayala) 18-7

TJ – 1. Young (Carson) 38-7½; 2. Moore (Centennial) 38-0¾; 3. Pastrana (Charter Oak) 37-7; 4. Stevenson (Great Oak) 37-5¾; 5. Heckman (Point Loma) 37-5

PV – 1. Leleux (New Iberia Catholic) 12-6; 2. Carson (Liberty) 12-6; 3T. Cervantes (Poway) 12-6; 3T. Turner (Redondo Union) 12-6; 5. Gonzalez (Apple Valley) 12-6; 11. Simon (Corona del Mar) 11-6

SP – 1. Budwig (Fowler) 45-5¼; 2. Franklin (Santa Clarita Golden Valley) 42-6; 3. Sale (Los Alamitos) 42-2; 4. Ramirez (West Ranch) 41-0¼; 5. Bryant (Miramonte) 40-10½

DT – 1. Budwig (Fowler) 152-11; 2. Sale (Los Alamitos) 149-2; 3. F. Crenshaw (Costa Mesa) 148-10; 4. T. Crenshaw (Costa Mesa) 142-11; 5. Ramirez (West Ranch) 140-11

andrew.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @ProfessorTurner

UPDATES:

April 24, 11:22 a.m.: This article was updated with additional results from the Mt. SAC Relays.

This article was originally published on April 21 at 9:50 p.m.