On Friday, the Fisk University women’s gymnastics team officially became the first HBCU to compete in a college meet.
Fisk was part of the two-day Super 16 event in Las Vegas. On the first day, they finished with a total score of 186.700, good for fourth place in session one.
Fisk immediately hit the ground running as Naimah Muhammad led off by showing off her tumbling skills, earning a score of 9.600 on the floor exercises due to a double tuck maneuver.
Kaylei McDonald, Kiara Richmon, and Zyia Coleman earned scores of 9.475, 9.700 and 9.600, respectively on the floor exercises.
Two other notable performers for the day were Liberty Mora and Morgan Price. Mora executed a dance routine on the mat that ended with her landing a double-pike.
Price, a highly touted recruit who flipped from Arkansas to Fisk, earned a 9.900 score by successfully completing a yurchenko vault.
That’ll get your team hyped‼️@price_morgan with a 9.9 score for @FiskUGymnastics in the teams’ 1st vault competition ever. 😱 pic.twitter.com/15JYHQnJLp
— Big Ten Network (@BigTenNetwork) January 6, 2023
Head coach Corrine Tarver, the first black woman to ever win at the NCAA All-Around in 1989, was well aware of the significance of this moment, having spoken to ESPN about how they have been embraced by the other programs as they take this one giant step on behalf of all HBCUs.
“Everybody’s excited to have us here, which makes me feel so good to feel all the love from all the other teams,” Tarver said.
Even though they didn’t compete in this specific meet, the Stanford University women’s gymnastics team posted a 21-second video welcoming Fisk to NCAA gymnastics.
Today is a huge day for the gym world as we welcome the first-ever HBCU gymnastics team to intercollegiate competition!
We can’t wait to watch you shine, @fiskugymnastics ✨#GoStanford x #GoodLuckFisk pic.twitter.com/GVPs5iXudH
— Stanford Gymnastics (@StanfordWGym) January 6, 2023
Next up for Fisk is a meet in Ann Arbor to face off against 2021 national champion Michigan on Jan. 13.
