Howard Swim & Dive Team Becomes the First All-Black Swim Team Featured in Sports Illustrated

By Nyah Peebles, HBCUBUZZ.com

The Howard Bison, The only allBlack team in college swimming recently made history as the first allBlack swim team to be featured in the famed sports magazine, Sports Illustrated.

Sports Illustrated began coverage of the Howard University swim and dive team this past October at the start of the fall season.

The historic feature article sheds light on the barriers the team is breaking.

Howard University is the only HBCU with a swim team, and they have made quite the name for themselves as they continue to break school records and make history.

The men’s team is currently 6-2, and the women’s team is 5-3 overall. Both teams are on track to become Northeast Conference champions.

The women’s team captain, senior Raychel Fauntroy, shared her excitement about the team being highlighted. “When Coach Nic asked me to be in the photo shoot for it, I was really shocked that they wanted to do an article and feature us. A lot of people don’t know Howard has a swim team let alone the only HBCU with one,” Fauntroy told The Hilltop.

The article details the team’s season-opening meet, “The Battle at the Burr,” which made collegiate swimming history with one of the largest attended events with 2,000 tickets sold and over 1,200 attendees. The release also dives into the growth of Howard’s success, statistics, the history of swimming among Black people, and much more.

“This is about our mission as a university and the message we want to send as an HBCU…This isn’t a bunch of Black people in a pool; it’s young

Black men and women succeeding in a sport that, for years, has shut them out of this experience,” the swim program’s coach, Nicholas Askew told Sports Illustrated.