LEXINGTON, KY – Maeva Tahou recorded the best mark in the long jump in the entire East Region preliminary to punch her ticket to Eugene, Oregon on Thursday night. She becomes the first female Buccaneer to advance to the National Championships since Mulern Jean did in the 100m hurdles in 2013.
 
In the first female jumping event of the week, Tahou showed out in the long jump, taking first overall of the 48 best student-athletes on this side of the nation. She was part of the second flight at the meet and recorded marks of 6.28m, 6.38m and 6.51m during her series. Each of her attempts bested her previous personal best the school record that she held and eventually broke the long-standing conference record of 6.31m. Currently, Tahou's mark ranks tied for the 12^th best in the nation this spring.
 
Tahou's advancement becomes the sixth time that a Buccaneer has advanced to the National Championship meet on the women's side. Additionally, this is the first time that Charleston Southern has had someone advance in a field event as each of the others have been on the track varying from the 200m dash, 100m hurdles and 4x100m relay.
 
Additionally, Tahou competed in the 100m hurdles and ran a school record and personal best time in the first round of that and moved ahead to Saturday's quarterfinals. Tahou recorded a 13.17 during the prelim running in the third heat and claimed fourth place in it and 20^th overall in the field. She remains third in conference history as well.
 
The day began with Zemaya Carson competing in the hammer throw. She claimed 35^th overall in the field with a best throw on the day of 56.68m. She threw in the first flight during the event and took fifth of those entrees.
 
Grenisha Thomas and Brenda du Toit both ran in the 400m hurdles to conclude the day's action for the Buccaneers with both going sub-60 in their races. Thomas had a time of 59.48 for 37^th and ran in the first heat while du Toit had a 59.77 for 43^rd in the third heat.
 
Looking ahead, Tahou will compete in the national quarterfinals for 100m hurdles on Saturday evening. She will run in lane two yet again with this time in the second heat with an anticipated start time of 6:15 p.m. The top three finishers in each of the three heats plus the next three fastest times will move forward to compete in the NCAA Championships in Eugene, Oregon from June 10-13.