Fisk University makes history as first HBCU to compete at NCAA level in gymnastics

Last week, Fisk University finished fourth at the Super 16 gymnastics invitational in Las Vegas. At the same time, the women's team from the Nashville school also recorded an even more important first.

Just 14 months after the formation of the team, Fisk became the first historically Black university gymnastics squad to compete at the NCAA level - facing off against established programs North Carolina, Southern Utah and Washington.

"It feels really cool," top recruit Morgan Price told ESPN on Thursday. "We have a lot of eyes on us because we are the first and because we are making history, so it's just so exciting to be a part of the first team ever."

Price competed in all four individual events, earning the meet's highest score (9.9) on the vault.

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The Fisk gymnastics program sprung from a conversation between freshman Jordynn Cromartie and her uncle, a Fisk University alum. When he asked her why she wasn't considering his alma mater, Cromartie told ABC News, she said it was because it didn't have a gymnastics program.

"During that conversation he was like, 'Watch me make it happen,'" she recalled.

Under the direction of coach Corrinne Tarver, the first Black gymnast to win an NCAA all-around title in 1989, the program quickly developed - with five-star recruit Price leading the way when she changed her commitment from Arkansas to Fisk.

"It's pretty exciting, but also a long time coming," Tarver told ABC News. "It's one of those things that people already thought was already there.

"However, it's here now and that's what's important."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fisk University women's gymnastics is first HBCU in NCAA competition