Royaltee Magazine-

Everything You Need To Know About Fisk University’s Women’s Gymnastics Team

Fisk University added to the #blackgirlmagic legacy when they became the first historically Black university gymnastics team. On Friday, Jan. 6, the team competed for the first time at the NCAA’s Super 16 event with 300  other athletes from across the country.

The Fisk Bulldogs placed 4th with an overall score of 186.700, holding its own against schools such as the University of North Carolina, Southern Utah University, and the University of Washington. Standout performers included Naimah Muhammad, who performed the first competitive routine in Fisk Gymnastics history and first overall in HBCU history. Her floor routine included music from Missy Elliott and Lizzo.

Morgan Price executed a  9.9 score on the vault, nearly perfectly sticking the landing. Price is considered a rising star in the sport. She de-committed from SEC school, the University of Arkansas to join the historic team in 2022.

“African-Americans weren’t allowed to go to predominantly white institutions and SEC schools,” Price told the Nashville Post. “The fact I can go to an HBCU and be able to show off my talents at the school my ancestors made for me is so much more [of an honor] than going to an SEC school.”

Here’s everything we know about Fisk’s gymnastics program.

 

Fisk University started its gymnastics program in 2022.

Fisk announced their gymnastics program in the spring of 2022. Their coach, Corrine Tarver,  was the first Black gymnast to win an NCAA all-around championship in 1989. Tarver said told ABC that building the team was a “longtime coming. ”

“It’s one of those things that people already thought was already there,” she says. “However, it’s here now and that’s what’s important.”

Tarver, who also serves as Fisk’s athletic director, told NewsOne that the team “opens up opportunities for girls who want to have an HBCU experience” and do gymnastics at the same time because it just wasn’t something that was an option before.”

Fisk University Women's Gymnastics Team
Fisk University Women’s Gymnastics Team

Regional aspirations

Tarver also has big regional plans for her girls. “The team members are still getting to know each other,” Tarver told NPA,  “but over the next five years, the plan is to make NCAA regionals.”

By their first performance, the regionals level is a huge possibility.  The Bulldogs’ next competition will be on Jan. 13, going up against 2021 NCAA champions the University of Michigan.

 

Around The Web