By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics

The William & Mary women's gymnastics team is gearing up for a weekend that promises to be both traditional and historic.

Saturday afternoon, the Tribe will host the University of Bridgeport for its annual Senior Meet. Five W&M gymnasts — Sarah Brownstein, Abby Carpenter, Amanda Jackson, Keaghan Schafer and Emma Wiley — will be honored.

Sunday afternoon, William & Mary will welcome Fisk University to Kaplan Arena. The Nashville, Tenn., school made history as the first Historically Black College and University to compete at the NCAA level in gymnastics.

"This is a historic moment, and there have been so many tears shed in the gymnastics world," W&M coach Kelsey Hinton said. "Having Fisk compete at William & Mary will bring a lot of positive attention to both teams. My team is full of empathy.

"They are excellent role models for the community and we want to support them in any way possible. I want people here to understand how big and historic this event is."

Hinton is one of only four African American female head coaches in Division I women's gymnastics. Fisk's head coach is Corrinne Tarver, who at Georgia became the first Black gymnast to win the all-around in the 1989 NCAA Championship.

"This is women's empowerment right here, female representation," Hinton said. "There will be four female coaches (Tarver, her assistants, and Hinton) on the floor.

"To be able to see two Black female head coaches in a predominantly white profession is really big. I hope people will look at this as a step in the right direction. We want to make sure this new team feels welcomed and comfortable."

Although a member of the NAIA, Fisk has taken on all comers in its debut season. The Gym Dogs have competed against Division I powerhouses such as No. 3 Michigan, No. 19 Georgia and No. 13 Ohio State.

Everywhere they've been, the Gym Dogs have gained respect.

"It's important we represent ourselves, our school, and the HBCU community," Tarver said on fiskathletics.com.

Tarver was an assistant coach at Penn when, in March of 2022, she was hired to start up a gymnastics program at Fisk. Four months after that, she was promoted to athletics director.

Hinton met Tarver at the coaches' convention last year.

"We ate, we laughed, and we enjoyed our time together," Hinton said.

Building a program from scratch, to state the obvious, is a challenge. But Tarver found plenty of programs eager to compete against her program.

Hinton was one.

"She was reaching out trying to find some meets, and I just happened to get the email," Hinton said. "Within half a second, I responded back to her and said we'd love them to come to William & Mary to compete against us. She jumped at the offer."

With two meets scheduled for this weekend, Hinton didn't want either to be overshadowed. That's why she decided to have her Senior Day separately. Sunday will also be W&M's Women's Empowerment/Cancer Awareness meet.

"They're very excited," Hinton said of her gymnasts. "We'll have a conversation about how important the two days are. I want them to understand how important both days are to everyone.

"We're sending off our seniors on the 18th and celebrating all of their accolades. Then on the 19th, we're doing the same, but it's for a different community. It's the Black community. We're excited."

To have the meet during Black History Month was perfect.

"That was one of my goals," Hinton said. "It'll bring more awareness to both teams."