There is no better time to make history than the month of February. This month, the Howard University men’s and women’s swim teams graced the cover of Sports Illustrated. Achieving this feat sets the Bison aside from others as the first all-Black swim team to grace the cover of the legacy sports publication.
“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,” Howard University swim coach Nicholas Askew said.
“With Howard being the only swim team at an HBCU in the country, I feel like it motivates me to just always do my best. There are always younger athletes, young black athletes, young swimmers, who are always looking for a figure to look up to, and I feel like growing up for me I didn’t have that, you know?”
The Howard University Bison punctuated the accomplishment with a strong performance at the Northeastern Conference Championship this past weekend. Led by Miles Simon, Howard University’s Men’s Swimming & Diving Team outscored second-place finisher Long Island University by nearly 200 points to claim the first conference title in more than 30 years. Askew and company also claimed “NEC Coaching Staff of the Year” honors for the second straight year.
Moving forward, several members of the Howard University program will travel to Indiana for the CSCAA National Invitational Championships.
