When the 2002 softball team was state Class A runner-up, two-sport star DeShasier was named as Illinois's female high school athlete of the year.

After finishing her softball career and while completing her SIUE studies in civil engineering, DeShasier was encouraged to use her final year of athletic eligibility on the Cougars track and field team.

She threw a personal record of 53.74 m in Edwardsville that July and came close to that mark to take fifth place overall at the United States Olympic Trials.

[11] These finishing positions were repeated at the 2011 USA Outdoors and although she did not have the qualifying standard for the 2011 World Championships in Athletics, she was selected for the 2011 Pan American Games instead.

[12][13] In spite of a lack of experience of international competitions, DeShasier excelled at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, improving her best by over two meters with a throw of 58.01 m (190 ft 4 in) and defeating the more favored Yanet Cruz to win the gold medal in the event.