Fisk gymnastics looks back on inaugural season ahead of first home meet

Thanksgiving 2021: Frank Simmons was confused. The Fisk University trustee wanted to understand why his niece, a gymnast from Houston, Texas, planned to attend college at Southern Utah University, a predominantly white institution. Not that the Thunderbirds had a bad reputation. Simmons just didn't think it was the ideal environment for his niece to excel in and enjoy.

Jordynn Cromartie wanted to attend a college with a women’s gymnastics program, she told him, preferably a Historically Black College. But none of America’s HBCUs had an intercollegiate squad — which sparked an idea.

Somersault to Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Fisk is scheduled to cartwheel, lunge kick and flip at Belmont’s Curb Events Center as the squad competes against Greenville University in the lone regular-season home meet of its inaugural campaign.

"It's about making possible a venue to fulfill someone else's dream and for that dream to become a reality," said Simmons, a 1973 Fisk graduate. "It's something they can carry on for the rest of their lives."

Don't get it twisted. They're not just competing. They're exceling, while garnering national attention.

Aaliyah Reed-Hammon has earned a 9.900 on vault and a 9.925 on beam. Kiara Richmon has been a standout on bars, regularly notching 9.8-plus scores. Liberty Mora has done the same on beam. And Morgan Price, who decommited from Arkansas, earned a 9.9 score at her first meet.

Already, five Fisk gymnasts have qualified for postseason competition, a historic accomplishment for a program launched just 13 months ago.

"It's almost like an outside-looking-in type of situation since we're the ones who are a part of it," said Hailey Clark, a freshman from Windermere, Florida. "I mean, it's kind of hard for us to really understand the magnitude of what we're doing."

Gymnasts have appeared on the "Jennifer Hudson Show," "Good Morning America" and ESPN, while posts on Instagram and TikTok reach millions. A documentary is in the works.

"It's just so surreal," said sophomore Kaylei McDonald, who hails from Valley Stream, New York.

Then there are the thousands that attended gymnastics meets this season when Fisk performed.

Philadelphia. Towson, Maryland. Washington D.C.

At one stop, Simmons met a middle-aged spectator who traveled 400 miles to watch gymnasts from the small, private HBCU in Nashville. To her, they represented a dream she never realized. For others, much younger, Fisk gymnastics represents new opportunities in a sport that is experiencing a surge in racial and ethnic diversity.

Not long after Gabby Douglas became the first Black gymnast to be crowned all-around Olympic champion (2012), Suni Lee became the 2020 Olympic all-around champion and Simone Biles earned seven Olympic medals and 25 world championship medals — more than anyone in the sport — Konnor McClain, Shilese Jones and Jordan Chiles claimed the top three spots in the senior all-around competition at the 2022 U.S. Gymnastics Championships.

And next up in the competition: Fisk.

"Some schools doubled or tripled their normal attendance and that was directly because of Fisk being there," said Corrinne Tarver, Fisk's first-year gymnastics coach. "We've had people drive all the way from Chicago to see us in Michigan, or people driving from New York and Pennsylvania to see us in New Jersey.

“The ladies on this team, as well as the coaching staff, understand the significance. We all appreciate what we’re doing and how we're changing the landscape of college gymnastics."

Claire Billman, a senior editor for College Gym News, a national publication focused on college gymnastics, said Fisk is leading a cultural shift, while also being competitive in its inaugural season.

“The status quo in gymnastics is changing slowly but surely," Billman said, "and Fisk is at the front of the charge.”

'It's all about making history'

Back in 1989, Tarver, then a gymnast at the University of Georgia, became the first Black woman to win an NCAA all-around gymnastics championship. (More than three decades later, only four other Black women have won the NCAA's individual all-around title.)

Tarver is now in charge of Fisk gymnastics, a squad comprised of 11 freshmen and four sophomores. Tarver said it's difficult to consistently compete at a high level without upperclassmen, yet the underclassmen are finding a way. Last week at Temple, Fisk posted its highest team score of the season (192.400) and a third-place finish.

"They had to figure it out on their own and they've done such an amazing job, to see the progress from our first competition to where we are now," Tarver said.

Tarver uses her own experiences to lead. For a lot of Fisk gymnasts, she is their first Black coach. She understands the struggles they face, including not always believing they are free to be themselves for fear of being misinterpreted or labeled.

Despite the challenges, Fisk has been well received across the nation. And as the squad heads into its last meet of the regular season, Tarver is hoping for a great turnout.

“We want to show people what Nashville is all about," she said. "We’ve had record crowds everywhere else; we want to have that here too."

Rethinking HBCUs: The band, Greek life ... uneven bars?

For freshman Zyia Coleman, the desire to attend a university where people looked like her and shared her culture made the decision to attend Fisk easy.

“When you think of an HBCU you think of the band, the music — boom, boom, boom!" Coleman said.

"And so now, hopefully, you’ll think about gymnastics!"

It was almost too late for McDonald, Alyssa Wiggins (Cartersville, Georgia), HyCei White (Evans, Georgia), Lyndsi Callier (New Orleans) and Kiana Session (Chandler, Arizona). They all decided to end their gymnastics careers.

Then Tarver, with help from their loved ones and former coaches, convinced them to show up in Nashville.

“I decided that I didn't want to pass on the opportunity to come here,” Session said.

Not that it's been easy.

More:Meet the teen gymnast star who turned down an Olympic-champion coach to flip for Fisk

Consistency has been the biggest issue this season, Billman said, adding that it isn't surprising given how quickly the program launched. “Consistency will come,” she said, "but the gymnastics is there."

Cromartie — Simmons' niece who altered her college decision — said Fisk gymnasts have experienced lower scores based on their body types.

“I joke around and call them 'brownie' deductions because most of us are brown," Cromartie said. "But that definitely is a thing in the sport of gymnastics and I do believe that we’ve been underscored a little bit.”

Even at an HBCU, team members have experienced challenges as they balance books, practices and lots of travel. Kiara Richmon, a sophomore from Atlanta, Georgia, said some professors don't understand why gymnasts miss so many classes or require extensions on assignments. Also, with Fisk launching a new sport so quickly, it had no chance to compete with facilities and student-athlete services at successful college gymnastics programs such as at the University of Arkansas, where Price's sister, Frankie, competes.

“But at the same time,” Morgan Price said,” it's not that big of a deal because no matter where you train, it doesn't matter if you have a big gym of your own because all that matters is the hard work that you put in.”

Despite the challenges, Price (born nearby in Lebanon but raised in Texas) considers her decision to attend Fisk the best decision of her life. To her, attending Fisk honors some of her ancestors that weren’t allowed to attend all-white schools.

Being the first HBCU to offer a gymnastics program will provide more opportunities for women of color, Frank Simmons said. They no longer have to choose between attending their dream university and pursuing the sport they love.

"If they want to attend an HBCU and they have the talent to compete at the collegiate level,” he said, “then they can come to Fisk and accomplish both things."

So Fisk gymnasts know there may be a young girl sitting in the stands Tuesday at Belmont who is inspired by their performances.

They want to ensure she lands her dream.

Said Price: “Seeing all the little girls that come up to us after every single meet is just so exciting to see that we're inspiring the younger generation.”

Diana Leyva can be reached at dleyva@gannett.com. Chris Gadd can be reached at cgadd@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Fisk gymnastics: Meet the stars of the first HBCU program