BATON ROUGE, La. — Tashina Alase is poised to make history on Thursday night as the first Lady Jaguar in more than three decades to compete at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. The senior will line up in the 100-meter hurdles semifinals at 8:08 p.m. CT on ESPN 2 at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
 
Alase advanced through the NCAA East Regional in impressive fashion, clocking 13.00 seconds in the opening round before lowering her time to 12.74 in the quarterfinals. Her quarterfinal mark ranked third among all competitors across both NCAA regional meets, trailing only Aaliyah McCormick of Oregon (12.44) and Emmi Scales of Kentucky (12.69).
 
By taking the track Thursday evening, Alase will become the first Southern athlete to compete in both the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Championships during the same academic year. Former NCAA indoor long jump champion Brian Johnson was the last Jaguar to qualify for both championships, reaching the outdoor meet in 2001 and 2002 before capturing the NCAA indoor title in 2003. Prior to Johnson, only four Southern athletes achieved the distinction during the program's NAIA era.
 
The semifinals will feature three heats, with the top two finishers in each heat earning automatic berths to the championship final. The remaining two spots will be awarded to the next-fastest times across all heats. The NCAA final is scheduled for Saturday at 7:42 p.m. CT.
 
Alase enters the national semifinal as one of the fastest hurdlers in the field and will look to continue her historic season by securing a place in Saturday's championship race.

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