RALEIGH, N.C. — Saint Augustine’s University in Raleigh is now home to the first HBCU women’s rowing team in the country.

According to data from the NCAA, only about 2% of collegiate female rowers in 2021 were Black.

Additionally, there has never been a women’s rowing team at a historically Black college or university until this year, when students at Saint Augustine's University changed that. 

“It’s very hard to be in a sport where you don’t really see people that look like you,” Bre Dorway, a member of the women’s crew team at Saint Augustine’s University, said.

Mikahya Hill, the captain of the SAU women’s crew team, has always been drawn to the water but she never saw a place for women like her on a rowing team.

“When I was in high school, we had a crew team but it was just a lot of white guys on the team and there wasn’t even any type of girls,” Hill said. 

As a rising senior at SAU, Hill is charting the course and making history in the process.

“I got everyone interested. I was telling them how we’re going to be the first HBCU women’s crew team and how people are going to follow in our footsteps and we’re going to get more women of color to join,” Hill said.

Hill recruited four friends and they started training on indoor rowing machines, but they weren’t sure where it would go from there.

“No one thought it was really going to happen. We were unsure if we were ever going to get on live water,” Hill said.

They’ve now been out on the water at Lake Wheeler a handful of times. They only have four total members after one graduated this year, so members of N.C. State’s crew team and other local rowers help fill their eight-person boat during practices.

“It’s really monumental to see all of us on the water working together. Although we’re new, we’re getting the hang of it and we’re actually not as bad as we thought we were,” Hill said.

Co-captain Andrea Taylor admits she hasn’t always loved the water but is getting outside of her comfort zone in order to change stereotypes.

“The struggle is the stereotype. You know, Black people being scared of the water and actually getting in the water and being scared of just the water in general. Breaking that, I feel like it shows people we can do this. Don’t be scared and just put your mind to anything,” Taylor said.

With an average enrollment of just 1,000 students, SAU is a small HBCU, but Dorway believes that may have worked to their advantage.

“If it was Howard or Spellman, I don’t think they would’ve gotten as much traction but because we’re such a small school, and no one has really heard of us, I think everyone’s interested in our story,” Dorway said. “It makes me feel good and bad at the same time. I’m 50-50. We really shouldn’t be the first women’s HBCU team. This should’ve happened. I’m surprised none of the big HBCUs have done it before.”

The team is definitely getting noticed.

“It’s surreal. We’re getting all this press and people are interested in us. Just a moment ago when we were walking to the boat, a guy recognized us, so that’s the unreal part. But the real part is that it’s actually happening,” Hill said.

Just wait until they come back in the fall.

“I’m just very excited for what we have in store because now everyone’s watching us, so we just have to get bigger and better really,” Dorway said.

The SAU women’s crew team plans to hold an informational session in the fall in order to recruit more members. They also say people have been extremely generous, offering donations to support the team.