ASHEVILLE, N.C. – Charleston Southern Women's Track and Field claimed second place at the Big South Outdoor Championships on Wednesday evening, concluding the three-day event.
Maeva Tahou claimed Big South Freshman of the Year as she was the highest scoring individual of all freshmen in the league with 26 points.
Charleston Southern had their best showings on the week in the sprinting and hurdling events. They swept the podium in the 100m hurdles with
Austyn Koppe claiming the Championship title in the event. She recorded a personal best time of 13.36 to move up to fifth in conference history with her time ranking 48
th nationally this year. Tahou took second at 13.77 while Chloe Mae Wilks was third with a personal best of 13.79 and
Brenda du Toit took seventh in a career best of 14.27. Wilks' time ranks as the sixth-best in school history while Tahou's prelims time of 13.58 is third in program history and ninth in league history.
The Buccaneers were just as dominant in the 400m hurdles as Thomas and Koppe went 1-2 in the event with du Toit taking fourth. In the finals, Thomas won the event with her career best time of 58.30 for second in school history and fifth in Big South history. Koppe ran a 59.64 in the finals after having her new personal best of 59.47 come in the prelims with it ranking at third in program history. Du Toit broke 60 seconds in the event for the first time in her career in the prelims with a 59.77 to move up to fifth in school history.
Thomas was one of the standout performers of the week with her races in the 100m. After dropping a tenth of a second off her personal best in the prelim with an 11.77, she followed it with another massive personal record of 11.65 in the finals for second at the meet. The time places her at second in school history.
Nourhan Hassan claimed seventh in the finals.
In the 400m finals,
Maddie St. Louis was the Bucs' top finisher with her time of 55.94. She claimed fourth in the event with
Caroline Aslerin taking fifth at 56.79 and
Sophia Cupp in seventh with a 58.55. In the 200m finals, St. Louis and Tahou each competed with both running personal bests with their times of 24.84 and 25.16 for fifth and seventh.
Charleston Southern tallied their first points on the track in the 10K on Monday evening.
Sarah McCartney recorded a time of 35:23.03 to take second place.
Katrina Husby had a time of 37:44.09 for the new seventh-fastest time in school history. McCartney took her second podium finish on the week in the 5K as she ran a 17:17.70 for third overall.
On Tuesday evening, the women's 3K steeplechase was held with the Buccaneers claiming another podium finish in a distance event.
Taylar White ran a time of 11:19.94 to take third.
In the mid-distance races,
Freya Buglass advanced to the finals of each. She claimed fifth in the 1500m with her 4:35.43 and fourth in the 800m with a 2:12.37.
Charlize Antia also advanced to the finals of the 1500m and had a time of 4:42.32 for seventh.
The track events for day three began for the women's team with the 4x100m relay. The Buccaneers' quartet of Tahou, Thomas, Koppe and Hassan ran a season best time of 46.07 in the event.
They had an even better showing in the 4x400m relay as they won the event with a time of 3:40.26. The group featured Aslerin, Thomas, du Toit and St. Louis in it.
The Buccaneers were able to score their first points in a field event in the long jump. Tahou recorded a fifth place finish in the long jump while Thomas claimed eighth. Tahou's best jump of the day was a personal best of 5.65m for eighth in school history while Thomas had a 5.22m, just off her career best.
On day two, Tahou claimed Charleston Southern's first event win of the week in the triple jump. She went for a career-best 12.09m and won by a quarter of an inch over Gardner-Webb's Teandra Clemons. Tahou recorded that mark on her first attempt, and it ranks fourth in school history.
Brenda du Toit jumped 11.09m in the event for seventh. Each of them had to bypass their three jumps in the finals as they had to warm up for events that were following it shortly after with both holding on for scoring performances.
The second day came to an end with the shot put.
Josaphine Ankney claimed fifth in the event with a throw of 13.17m while
Alayna Abrams took eighth with an 11.94m.
The final day of field events saw the Buccaneers tally more points in throwing events.
Avah Morrison took eighth in the discus throw with a 39.35m while
Amelia Stembridge threw 36.80m in the javelin for sixth.
The meet ends the 2025 regular season for Charleston Southern. The Buccaneers are expected to have multiple qualifiers for the NCAA East Prelims later this month with the field for this year's first round of the NCAA Championships to be announced on Thursday, May 22.
Women's Final Results
- High Point – 287.5
- Charleston Southern - 152
- Gardner-Webb - 105
- USC Upstate – 86
- Radford - 84
- UNC Asheville - 54
- Winthrop – 31.5
- Longwood – 19
Women's Most Valuable Athlete
Rachel Davis, USC Upstate
Women's Most Outstanding Performance
Rachel Vesper, High Point
Women's Newcomer of the Year
Alyssa Hendrix, High Point
Women's Freshman of the Year
Maeva Tahou, Charleston Southern
Women's Coaching Staff of the Year
High Point
Women's All-Academic Team
Austyn Koppe, Charleston Southern
Jada Pittman, Gardner-Webb
Brianna Malone, High Point
Lauren Vick, Longwood
Kelsey Arnold, Radford
Madison Hannah, UNC Asheville
Maureen Ortiz, USC Upstate
Faith Wood, Winthrop
Women's Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Brianna Malone, High Point
