Happy tears occasionally trickle down Tasha Alase’s cheeks.
The pride swells when she watches Southern track star Tashina Alase — her twin sister — race, often on repeat, when viewing her online.
“I'm probably half the views on a video of her race,” Tasha said. “I just watch it over and over because it makes me so happy for her. And it makes me tear up watching her races, just because I know how badly she wants it and how hard she works.”
Those emotions will resurface when Tashina represents the Jaguars in the 100‑meter hurdles at the NCAA East first round at 6 p.m. Thursday.
But Tashina's athletic dreams were suddenly in jeopardy on March 26, 2025. She was in a head‑on car crash when her red Hyundai's brakes malfunctioned.
She walked out of her totaled car seemingly unharmed on Interline Avenue in Baton Rouge. She contacted her dad and cried on the phone with her coaches before paramedics arrived at the scene.
While speaking with Southern assistant coach Freddie Glover, she eventually looked down to see her bloody right foot. Her big toe was fractured in multiple places because the Crocs she was wearing didn’t protect her feet.
Despite the blood, she thought the injury wouldn’t stop her from competing in the second outdoor meet of the year in Austin, Texas, the next day.
“It’s just dislocated,” Tashina said then. “Coach Freddie, I’m running this weekend.”
Glover and head coach Teremine White furrowed their brows at the declaration. Instead of simply popping her toe back in place, Tashina sobbed that evening after X‑rays revealed the severity of the injury, ending her junior year before it truly started. She stayed in the hospital for three days after having surgery.
She was on crutches for two weeks, in a walking boot for seven-and-a-half weeks more, and in a lower‑elevation boot for another several weeks. By the end of June, she ran for the first time in normal shoes to test her limits.
Tashina immediately regretted it. She couldn’t walk the next day.
“It hurt so bad, like it hurt in the weirdest areas,” she said. “I did not think a toe injury could do that. I did not think I would ever be able to run and not think about it.”
While doubts crept in, they didn’t linger. Tashina’s mentality was hardened by the instruction of Glover, the Jaguars’ eighth‑year sprints and hurdles coach, who preached the importance of mindset when she had a disappointing sophomore season after transferring from Dillard.
Tashina Alase received a plaque for finishing in seventh place in the 100-meter hurdles at the NAIA track & field championships in 2022.
Photo contributed by Bola Alase
She also leaned on lessons from her re‑reading of “The Heart of a Champion” by Bob Richards — a book her childhood gymnastics coach often quoted. Years later, it helped her overcome adversity.
“I knew for sure I was going to come back stronger,” she said. “I didn't really have doubt I was going to come back stronger, as long as I didn't give up in the process.”
Never losing sight of the process is how the 5-foot-5 redshirt junior from Champlin, Minnesota, became one of the fastest 100 hurdlers in the world.
At the Southwestern Athletic Conference outdoors championship, she posted the NCAA’s top time of 12.64 on May 12. The mark broke a SWAC record that had stood since 1985 and ranked second in the world in 2026 at the time.
Tashina is still tied for the best wind‑legal time in the NCAA and is tied for eighth in the world, trailing only Olympians, as of May 24.
Her success is a product of diligent training after arriving at Southern with raw ability from an NAIA program. But that talent needed refining.
“She had some potential, but her first year, she was not showing that at all,” Glover said. “In fact, she was struggling with hurdle drills, but I knew she was talented, so I was like, ‘Look, we're not even gonna do drills. We’re just gonna make you faster.’ ”
She accepted coaching without hesitation and was eager to learn, regardless of her earlier results at lower levels. That mindset is a dream for a coach.
“Whatever she has to do, she's gonna follow the plan exactly how you tell her to do it,” White said. “When you have an athlete that trusts you and follows the plan you're giving them, nine times out of 10 that kid is gonna be great.”
Her discipline stems from a decade of gymnastics, starting at age 5. She trained 30 hours a week, even after her twin sister grew too tall for the sport. Tashina eventually left gymnastics after injuries piled up.
Tashina Alase competes on the balance beam as a 10‑year‑old gymnast in Minnesota.
Photo contributed by Bola Alase
“Her body was kind of holding on by a thread at that point with the intensity that it requires,” Tasha said.
Tashina found her new passion in 2017 thanks to her sister.
“I also started track my sixth‑grade year,” said Tasha, who graduated from Howard. “She eventually started track, too. It's funny, because she always says that she started track because of me, and now she's doing it, and I'm not.”
Tashina’s recruitment stalled as a high school senior due to COVID‑19. She enrolled as a regular student at the University of Minnesota, seemingly ready to let go of the sport. That didn’t last.
Bola Alase told his daughter to ask about walk‑on opportunities. She did, but Minnesota denied the chance.
“It was just amazing how she's always been overlooked,” Bola said. “I know it hurt her, because I'm an alumni of the University of Minnesota. I did tell her just to try out … and they refused to do that.”
After a year away from competition, one of her high school coaches helped her find Dillard. After proving herself as a freshman at the NAIA level, the door to Southern opened.
In three years in Baton Rouge, she has done more than break indoor and outdoor records. The 23‑year‑old is bringing a spotlight to her school and all HBCUs. Her success is proof that talent comes from unexpected places.
“She's a once‑in‑a‑lifetime kind of athlete,” Glover said. “I want to make sure people understand exactly what she's doing at an HBCU. We're not like Power Fives with all the money and the bells and whistles. We have to really do some special things to get the results that we want.”
Glover also credited Southern’s administration for doing an “amazing job” helping the program grow and be in a position to have an athlete like Tashina.
The reverence her coaches have for Tashina goes beyond her speed and the attention brought to the university. They speak even more glowingly of her character.
Tashina mentors younger athletes, sharing the wisdom she’s gained. After her toe surgery, she attended every practice. She sat in her chair with an umbrella for shade, remaining a supportive voice.
“She’s a light for the team,” White said.
When she’s not performing intricate handshakes with her hurdles coach after races, she’s volunteering to help him with the art classes he teaches at Southern Lab.
Her dad is the least surprised by how she carries herself. Kindness was a core tenet in the Alase household.
“I always taught them that a person's character and integrity count way more than any money in this world,” Bola said.
The track world will learn more about Tashina. Everyone in her corner saw this rise coming. The stopwatch times in practice never lied, and her heart never faltered during the yearlong setback.
Tashina also knows her story is unfolding the way it’s meant.
“I tell myself every day, I know I'm the fastest one,” she said. “I'm not really surprised. It's kind of like I knew it was coming … it's part of the plan, I would say.”