NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Morgan Price went to Fisk University to make history and now she has. The sophomore from Lebanon became the first athlete from a historically Black college and university to win the all-around title at the U.S.A Gymnastics Women’s Collegiate National Championships last weekend.
Fisk honored Price Wednesday with a celebration on campus alongside fellow All-Americans Liberty Mora and Aliyah Reed-Hammon.
“I think I’m still on cloud nine a little bit,” Price said.
Price won the all-around title by nearly a tenth of a point. She posted a score of 39.225 across the four-event program of vault, floor, uneven bars, and beam in the first of two preliminary sessions Friday night at the championships in West Chester, Penn.
It left her a bit of a nervous wait as the schools in session two competed, but when she saw her score was still at the top at the end of the night it was time to celebrate.
“I was just super excited,” Price said. “So proud of myself because I know all my hard work over the summer and in the offseason finally paid off.”
The former five-star recruit wowed judges and fans with her electric routines. Even the announcers seemingly were left speechless, noting that Price’s performance needed no commentary.
She dropped a jaw-dropping 9.85 on the floor and followed it up with another 9.85 on the uneven bars.
“Oh she was amazing,” Fisk head coach Corrinne Tarver said. “And it was just routine after routine after routine. She’s just fun to watch. Her tumbling is amazing, but her dance is so good, her leaps are amazing. You watch her do floor, you smile. I mean, my heart was just so proud. When we were giving her the award I was like, ‘Okay, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry,’ because it was just so surreal to give to her something that I had received as well.
It was a déjà vu moment for Tarver who became the NCAA’s first Black All-Around champion back in 1989 while competing at Georgia.
Now Price is following in her footsteps as another pioneer and champion.
“I think that’s a very cool story as well,” Price said. “My head coach is the first Black gymnast to win a NCAA title and I’m the first Black gymnast at a HBCU to win. To win a national title it means everything to me and I’m sure it means everything to her as well.”
Becoming a national champion was a goal for Price when she chose to go to Fisk over Arkansas and help Tarver launch the first HBCU gymnastics program just last year. Making good on that goal serves as validation for her college decision.
She says she had always wanted to attend an HBCU, but none of them had a gymnastics program that would allow her to follow her athletic dreams. When Tarver pitched her on what Fisk was doing, Price jumped at the chance.
“I came to an HBCU not only to prove to myself but to prove to others that we can compete with the best of the best,” Price said. “And to also just inspire the younger generation so that no one can't tell them that they can’t (do gymnastics in college).
Price’s commitment was validation for the program Tarver was building even before it launched. And now just two years into its existence the GymDogs have a national champion.
“I was in WalMart when she called to tell me (she was committing) and I screamed,” Tarver said. “Let’s be real, Fisk is not an Arkansas, it’s not a SEC school. We don’t have a beautiful facility which we are trying to get built. So I will sit there in bed one and thinks sometimes because I always want to make sure she feels like she made the right choice. I’m learning never doubt Morgan. She knows what she’s doing. She knows why she made the decision and she’s so proud about the decision she made.”
With two years of eligibility remaining Price has more titles to win, but says she isn’t done following in the footsteps of Tarver. She plans to continue to be a model for young, Black gymnasts after graduation.
Her goal is to build a gymnastics training center and then to become a head coach at an HBCU. But for now, she’s enjoying her accomplishment and what her title can mean for future gymnasts like her who want to follow their dreams at an HBCU.
“We have put Fisk on the map as a school in general,” Price said. “I feel like this will just really help HBCUs be put on the map so they can have gymnastics as well.”
