Last Lap for A&T Aggies women’s swim team:N.C. A&T falls to Howard as ladies leave the pool with team now disbanded

The final score in the final swim meet ever for the Lady Aggies at N.C. A&T goes 110-87 in favor of the aquatic-like swimming Bison of Howard and this was the end…The women’s swim team at A&T has taken their last lap, as the Aggies now go in a different direction and begin to compete in more sports where the MEAC(Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) offers championships….

The Aggies want to be in line to win more Championships and that means no more women’s swimming…

A&T will be adding men’s tennis and men’s golf, along with women’s golf and women’s soccer to the Aggie athletic programs…The MEAC offers Conference Titles in all of those sports…

A&T has a sharp group of swimmers and you can see the team one more time when you CLICK HERE….

The team has taken their last dive and there will be no more swimming and diving competitions at the N.C. A&T pool…

Not all Aggies are happy with the ending of the women’s swim program:
“We swam our hearts out,” Victoria Orr, a 22-year-old Charlotte native and Aggies co-captain said of the final regular season meet. The final score of the meet was 110-87, Howard.

“It was bittersweet and sad, also. But I think everyone enjoyed it. We even had an alumni race. That was fun because that will be the last time they swim in the pool, too.”

“Black girls swim!” Orr declared. “A lot of people, when they hear I’m an athlete, the first thing they say is, ‘Oh, basketball or volley ball?’ I tell them I swim. They stop in their tracks – ‘You swim? You get your hair wet?’ Black girls swim. I love it.”

A shocking low point came way in 1987 on ABC’s Nightline program:
A SHOCKING LOW POINT: IN 1987, LOS ANGELES DODGERS THEN-GENERAL MANAGER AL CAMPANIS SAID ON ABC’S “NIGHTLINE” THAT AFRICAN-AMERICANS DON’T HAVE THE BUOYANCY TO SWIM.

Another set of circumstances that has hurt the rise African-Americans taking to the waters and having the desire to pursue swimming as a sport:
WE’RE ALSO FIGHTING AGAINST EARLY IN THIS COUNTRY’S HISTORY WHERE WE WERE DENIED ACCESS TO THE POINT THAT WE WERE LITERALLY BEATEN AND ATTACKED WHEN WE TRIED TO USE POOLS AND BEACHES.
Nicolas Askew, Howard University’s swim coach

Read more when CLICK HERE for the Charlotte Observer on-line and this special report from William Douglas…Blacks are making huge strides in most sports, but it has been like they’ve been taking an Australian Crawl when it comes to swimming….

*****Contributions coming in on this post from The Charlotte Observer*****