Kremer: Joliet Central's Crosby Lord of the Shot Put Ring

When Marquisha Crosby steps into the shot put ring, she also steps into a whole new persona.

She loses that charming smile and unleashes her inner beast.

Crosby is the Joliet Central High School senior who won the Southwest Suburban Blue Conference championship for the second year in a row. She recorded a throw of 37-2. She knows she can top that.

She has thrown the shot 40 feet in practice.

Yet, she surprised herself by rising to the top at the conference meet.

Crosby is a two-sport standout at Joliet Central. She rolled her ankle near the end of the girls basketball season. The injury sent her to the sidelines and forced her to miss the entire indoor girls track and field season.

“I went up to block a shot and came down on my ankle,” Crosby said. “I was out for six weeks. It was a level-3 sprain. My doctor ordered me a brace and told me to stay off of it. Then, I had to do some physical therapy.”

Crosby wore an ankle boot that she was glad to finally discard. She returned to the Joliet Central girls track team on time to make an appearance in the Plainfield Central Invitational.

She is just now beginning to regain her strength and speed in the ring—two traits that make her one of the area’s top shot putters. She hopes to peak at the Plainfield North Sectional and end her high school career with a trip to the Class 3A girls state meet.

“I surprised myself,” Crosby said of her gold-medal effort at the Southwest Suburban Blue Conference meet. “But my goal was to come in first place. And, in the finals, I just let it all out and that’s what I got.”

She has a career-best throw of 37-5.

“I am capable of throwing 40 feet,” Crosby said. “I know that because of all the practice I’ve put in over there (in the ring), working hard and just trying to push myself to get it out there. I’ve done it in practice. I’m just trying to get it out there in a meet.”

Crosby trains under the watchful eye of Joliet Central volunteer assistant coach Micki Vanderhyden, a former shot put and discus standout herself. Vanderhyden has helped Crosby polish her technique and gain the confidence to believe in herself.

“She is unbelievably strong,” Vanderhyden said. “She just has to have that confidence and that dedication now to go through with it. It’s just having a positive mental attitude.”

Joliet Central’s Terry Houchens has coached the weight events for a number of years. Rare is the occasion he has come across a thrower of Crosby’s talent. Rarer still has he watched a conference champ emerge from such an abbreviated window of opportunity.

“She really didn’t start competing until the end of April,” Houchens said. “So, we were a little worried: ‘Can we even get her ready?’ She had been working on the side, trying to do some therapy. And I’ve got coach Vanderhyden working with her now, too. So, we’re double-teaming her.”

The idea is to speed Crosby toward the finish line. Could she be a state qualifier? A state placer?

“My answer is yes,” Houchens said. “It’s that just unfortunately she’s lost that season time. We’re kind of hesitant to say things. But the answer is—we set a goal for her a long time ago to be a state qualifier.

“We were disappointed last year. But she used that more as a positive, saying, ‘I’m going to go forward this year.’ We want her to get there. That is our goal. She’s had a great career. She’s been with me for three years now.

“She’s progressed all those years. When you’re a senior, that’s what you want—to go to state.”

And make a statement: Time to feed the beast.

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