Black Women Sweep the NCAA D1 Swimming Championship

By Qimmah Saafir Mar 25, 2015

History was made at the NCAA Women’s Division 1 Swimming and Diving Championship when the gold, silver and bronze medals were taken home by three black women: Simone ManuelLia Neal, and Natalie Hinds, respectively. At Saturday’s competition Manuel and Neal of Stanford University, and Hinds of University of Florida became the first black women to sweep the D1 swimming championship.

USA Swimming tweeted out a congratulations to the ladies following the win:

Follow History @NCAA Swim Championships 100 free as @simone_manuel @LiaNeal @nathindss became first African-Americans to earn 1-2-3 #sportforall.

In a Tuesday interview with USA Swimming, Simone Manuel talked about her post-win moment of clarity:

When I was on the podium I was still in competition mode, thinking, "I have another race, it’s not over yet." But then when I got on the plane I saw Rowdy [Gaines] had tweeted "history" and a couple of other people had said something about it. I realized how important it was, and the impact that race might have on the sport.

Read Manuel’s full interview here.