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Former Virginia swimmer Brielle White, a two-time ACC Swimmer of the Year, was recently featured in an article by Richard Lapchic on ESPN.com. White was a seven-time individual ACC champion for the Cavaliers from 2003-06 and was a seven-time NCAA All-American.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Blair Cross was the only black female swimmer in the ACC last year. Brielle White graduated from Virginia in 2006; for four years, she, too, was the only black female swimmer in the ACC. Cross and White share a distinction the organizers of the National Black Heritage Championship Swim Meet want to erase.

This Memorial Day weekend, I attended the event, which was sponsored by the Central Florida YMCA in Orlando. My daughter, Emily, was a high school swimmer. Over the years, we watched a number of big meets at the YMCA Aquatics Center, where this meet was held. Out of the more than 2,000 swimmers we must have seen there, I can recall seeing only three African-American competitors.

At the National Black Heritage Championship, there were 500 African-American swimmers.

To read the rest of the article, Tough swim through stereotypes for African-Americans, click here.

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