A Virginia female high school runner was caught on video striking an opponent with a baton during the indoor track and field state championships last week — a blow that reportedly gave the opponent a concussion.
However, the runner in question said the hit was an accident.
‘No apologies. No coaches. No athlete. No anything. Even if it was an accident, which I don’t believe it was … nothing.’
You can view video here of the incident.
Kaelen Tucker, a junior at Brookville High School in Lynchburg, set a new meet record in the 55-meter dash last Monday, WSET-TV reported. On Tuesday, she was the second leg for her team in the 4×200-meter relay final, the station said.
During the race, Tucker passed an opponent from I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, and WSET said Tucker felt a blow to the back of her head. The station said the strike came from the baton the Norcom sprinter was holding, and the hit knocked Tucker to the track’s surface and out of the race.
Judges disqualified the I.C. Norcom relay team for “contact interference,” WSET said.
Tucker’s mother, Tamarrow, rushed to her daughter’s side, as did medical staff, the station said. But the mom told WSET that neither the I.C. Norcom coaches nor the runner who hit her daughter came over to explain or apologize.
“No apologies. No coaches. No athlete. No anything,” the mother told the station. “Even if it was an accident, which I don’t believe it was … nothing.”
WSET said doctors have been treating Tucker for a concussion and a possible skull fracture.
“I still can’t believe it. I’m in shock,” Tucker told the station while resting in her Campbell County home with her family. “I’m still trying to take it all in. I can’t believe it happened.”
Tucker’s mother told WSET she spoke by phone with the Virginia High School League, which said it’s investigating the incident. The VHSL told the station “the actions taken by the meet director was appropriate and correct” and that it still was reviewing the situation and called it a “serious issue, especially when it involves the safety of athletes in competitions.”
The Tuckers added to WSET that they reached out to the parent of the runner who hit their daughter, as well as to the I.C. Norcom athletic director, both of whom apologized on the student’s behalf.
Tucker told the station she hopes to be ready for outdoor track season.
You can watch WSET’s video report on the incident here.
The other side of the story
The runner who hit Tucker spoke to WAVY-TV, saying the hit with the baton was an accident.
Alaila Everett — a senior at I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth — added to the station in regard to those looking at the viral video that “they’re going off of one angle.”
The tearful runner also told WAVY, “Everybody has feelings, so you’re physically hurt, but you’re not thinking of my mental, right?”
‘They’re assuming my character, calling me ghetto, racist slurs, death threats — all of this just because of a nine-second video.’
The station said Everett and Tucker nearly collided while rounding a curve on the track. Everett noted to WAVY that “after a couple times hitting her, my baton got stuck behind her back like this, and it rolled up her back. I lost my balance, and when I pumped my arms again, she got hit.”
Everett emphasized to the station, “I know my intentions, and I would never hit somebody on purpose.”
Zeketa Cost, Everett’s mother, told WAVY she “didn’t have to see a first video, second video, or tenth video. I know 100% that she would never do that to nobody.”
Vincent Pugh, former citywide athletic director at Portsmouth Public Schools, added to the station that Turner, who was on the outside part of the track, was running closely to Everett, who was on the inside part of the track.
“If a person comes up on the outside, they got to be a full stride ahead of me before they can cut in front of me,” Pugh noted to WAVY.
As for the apology Tucker wanted according to WSET, Everett told WAVY she made efforts to get in contact with Tucker but that Tucker blocked her on social media.
What’s more, WAVY said the Everett family was served with court papers, and the Tuckers want a protective order.
“It doesn’t seem right that this would happen, and now we have to go to a city three hours away that everybody hates our guts already,” father Genoa Everett told the station.
“They’re assuming my character, calling me ghetto, racist slurs, death threats — all of this just because of a nine-second video,” Alaila Everett added to WAVY.
You can view WAVY’s interview with the Everett family here.
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Fearless, Virginia, State championships, High school athletes, Female athletes, Indoor track and field, Runner hits opponent in head with baton, 4×200-meter relay, Sports
