She's just getting started: How Tamea Crear made a name for herself in track and field

Moving from SoCal to San Joaquin County, Tamea Crear had no clue how quickly she would find a second home on Sanguinetti Field at St. Mary’s High School.

The freshman and her dad Mark Crear joined the Rams track and field program this season as a sprinter and assistant hurdles coach, respectively, adding another layer of talent to their already loaded roster.

Tamea Crear didn’t get lost in the talented shuffle though making a name for herself racking up gold medals and personal records as a star in the making for the Rams.

“The lights are kind of bright in the beginning and Tamea had to calm down and understand that she’s going through the process,” said Myke Lewis, St. Mary’s track and field head coach. “And now she’s getting it. Now she’s tuning in.”

It’s not just in the genes

Tamea Crear’s track and field journey started when she was nine years old first trying out soccer, swimming and other sports before landing on the blocks. It was an inevitable fit for her given the Crear family background in the sport.

Her dad is a two-time Olympic medalist in the 110-meter hurdles winning a silver medal in the 1996 Atlanta Games and a bronze in the 2000 Sydney Games. Her older sister Ebony Crear was a hurdler as well and competed on the NCAA Division I level at UCF and Texas A&M from 2015-2018.

Straying from family tradition, Tamea Crear found her bread and butter in the 100 and 200-meter events.

“Everybody wonders if she’ll ever do the hurdles just cause her daddy did it,” Mark Crear joked. “But sooner or later she’s gonna jump over those hurdles because she’s already getting the three step down. When she’s ready I’m here but if she keeps running an 11.80 I might have to concede to the 100, 200-meter events.”

He may be waiting for a while with his daughter sprinting her way to her first Sac-Joaquin Section Masters. At the SJS Division 1 Championship Finals meet to qualify for the Masters, she set a personal record in the 100-meter race with a time of 11.88 seconds. She snagged gold with that time beating out 10 other runners.

“I didn’t expect to run this type of time or to win like this because it’s high school but it felt good to do it,” Tamea Crear said. “It’s a lot more work compared to middle school because track was just like a club, but it makes me push more since I know how competitive it is.”

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Getting to that speedy finish took a lot of readjustment and buying into her first high school track program. The track and field gene may have given her a leg up on the competition but tough love and hard work would get her the first place results.

“Getting yelled at, not being nurtured and pampered, and getting told ‘You’re in a whole different arena in high school around kids who put four years into this sport’ helped her adjust,” Lewis said. “I think the real blessing in disguise for Tamea though was having Geianna Gonzalez, another freshman runner, to go through the adjustment together.”

'A little swag to us'

Coming into this spring season, Tamea Crear was one of seven other freshmen who made St. Mary’s varsity squad. She and Gonzalez were two of three freshmen to qualify for the Masters and now their sights are set on the CIF State Meet scheduled for May 24-25.

The freshman duo both compete in the 100 and 200-meter events and are the core of the Rams 4x100 relay team as the middle runners.

“I’ve known Geianna since last year since we ran against each other but we didn’t really know each other at the time,” Tamea Crear said. “Now since we’re both at St. Mary’s we know each other, we’ve hung out and that’s like the person I’m closest to on the team.”

The duo along with runners Alyssa Polk and Larissa Hackley took home gold at the SJS Division 1 Championship finals with a time of 48.72 seconds. At the SJS Masters prelims on May 17, they landed in third place and are gunning for the top spot in the finals on May 18.

Together Tamea Crear and Gonzalez have gone through their ups and downs finding their footing in St. Mary’s track program. With almost a year of varsity track under their belt they have showcased a spark of the Rams track and field program’s bright future.

Tamea Crear is at the forefront looking for a chance to prove she’s the fastest freshman sprinter in the state.

“That confidence level that these freshmen have gotten over the year you can see it,” Lewis said. “It was a little swag to us yesterday at the Masters and even though as a little unit they still have their freshmen ways, they are bought in. They know what to do and they just do it.”

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Record reporter Shannon Belt covers sports. She can be reached at sbelt@recordnet.com or on Twitter @ShannonBelt3. Support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.

This article originally appeared on The Record: She's just getting started: How Tamea Crear made a name for herself in track and field