Fisk to become first HBCU to host NCAA gymnastics competition

The Fisk University Women’s Gymnastics team is about to become the first historically Black university to host an NCAA gymnastics competition.

The team already made history last year as the first HBCU to have an intercollegiate women’s gymnastics team. The program, which launched last spring, is about to complete its first season.

The team is headed by coach Corrinne Tarver, the first Black gymnast to win an NCAA all-around championship — excelling in all four gymnastic skills: floor exercise, balance beam, uneven bars and vault.

While Tarver has coached for over 30 years, her first season as Fisk’s head coach has garnered national attention, landing the team interviews on Good Morning America and the Jennifer Hudson Show.

Tarver is also credited with landing five-star recruit, Morgan Price. In an interview earlier this year, Coach Tarver said Price was “everything we could want — you know, I mean, along with so many other girls on our team.”

Price didn’t always plan to attend Fisk. She initially declared her intent to attend the University of Arkansas on a full-ride scholarship. However, she decided to switch schools to pursue her dream of being on an HBCU gymnastics team.

“African American people weren’t allowed to go to the same schools as white people or other people,” Price said. “So it’s just really amazing that we have kind of, like, specific schools made for us to show our culture and to just bond with people that look like you.”

Tuesday’s event, which also marks the team’s hometown debut, is set to take place at Belmont’s Curb Event Center. They will compete against the Greenville University Panthers.

Correction: This story has been updated to correct the name of the university Morgan Price initially declared her intent to attend. It was the University of Arkansas, not Arkansas University.