Fisk’s Gymnastics Team Making Huge Strides for HBCUs
Blazing trails as the first HBCU with a gymnastics squad, Fisk is showing its NCAA competitors they’re coming for the top spot.
(Stew Milne via Getty Images)
Los Angeles — Fisk University announced a little more than a year ago they would make history by creating the first HBCU gymnastics team. This month, they made history again by becoming the first HBCU gymnastics team to compete at the NCAA level.
The team's head coach is Corrinne Tarver; who is widely known as the first Black gymnast to win an NCAA all-around title in 1989. According to ESPN, she said, "I'm so proud to be able to bring the team to the floor that is a historically Black college and university. It's the first time ever so we're ready to go."
Fisk University, whose mascots are The Bulldogs, competed against North Carolina, Southern Utah and Washington at the Super 16 event in Las Vegas. The team ultimately won 4th place with a score of 186.700.
Their latest meet, Friday at the University of Michigan, they scored 184.800. They were honored at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport the next day with “Happy Fisk University Women's Artistic Gymnastics Team Day!”
The team is hoping that this will make way for other HBCUs to join them and make a gymnastics program.