CAC powerhouse University of Mary Washington will forfeit its first dual meet of the 2016-2017 season after the team was caught having a party that included underage drinking and alleged hazing, according to school newspaper The Blue and Gray Press.
The Blue and Gray Press reports that police responded to a noise complaint earlier this month and discovered underage members of the swimming & diving team consuming alcohol. Mary Washington’s Athletic Director Ken Tyler said the event was “largely a freshman welcome tradition/party,” and The Blue and Gray Press quotes anonymous sources who say the event was a hazing ritual for underclassmen.
Police notified Tyler and the program’s head coach, Abby Brethauer, and Tyler now says the tradition has been permanently ended.
The school paper says that Tyler met with both teams, which were not together on the night of the incident, but at separate off-campus locations. The report also says both teams will forfeit what would have been their season-opening dual meets against Washington & Lee.
UMW no longer lists a dual meet on October 14, but Washington & Lee’s schedule still includes the dual, suggesting it has been recently pulled from the UMW website.
UMW is coming off of 26 straight women’s titles and 16 straight men’s titles in the Capital Athletic Conference (CAC) and competes in the NCAA’s Division III.
It was lit
Honestly it wasn’t that bad. Free booze. And good team bonding
I am very familiar with UMW and this situation. UMW has very strict academic honor code and varsity athlete code of conduct, The athlete code requires that athletes, regardless of age, do not drink within 24-hours of school organized training and 48-hours of representing the school. This is not a party school or program, and should no way reflect on the athletic dedication and hours of community service this program does every year. This party did occur prior to the athletes training under the coach and students did or can opt out without ridicule from their team. However, these parties did occur with the police responding to one of the parties. It was reported to the administration and swift appropriate… Read more »
Which sounds like a great thing.
I try every day to teach my team that it is ok to make a mistake, just never the same mistake twice. Looking forward to seeing them in positive articles very soon.
Amazing that teams still think they can keep their “traditions” somehow hidden. And what a great tradition: athletic team-building through drunkenness and humiliation of your teammates. I would have hoped for a season ban.
Are you kidding? Almost every college freshmen group drinks as intitiation, they were just unfortunately caught. You would be foolish to think that the college swimmers do not drink at parties, its college.
And that mindset is unfortunate. Binge drinking in college – proof that we haven’t evolved to a level much higher than the chimps. You are a part of the problem, dismissing this behavior as “kids being kids” and so forth.
Lol obviously you did not partake in college athletics.
The “kids will be kids” mentality is dangerous in this situation. That’s how things go too far and programs get cut for five years.
Education is super important here. I get your point of don’t throw the baby out with the bath water, but it’s important for athletes to understand what hazing is, and how different people react in different ways. What you see as tradition could be making someone uncomfortable. The easiest way to be 100% sure is to just not.
I certainly did. But with a 130 IQ and a mind stimulated by things other than low info college binge drinking tomfoolery – I did not partake in freshman hazing activities. The seniors tried – I told them no thanks – it was that easy. Looking back, I didn’t miss a thing.
Dutchwomen… you were that kid… you missed so much
I very much disagree.. when’s the last time you saw a chimp binge drink? I mean.. Did you go to college? It’s a rather common (and enjoyable) weekend activity
Kaez: this story is about hazing and team-organized “bonding” with alcohol served to minors. I am not saying anything about drinking at parties in the general.
If it’s a forfeit shouldn’t it stay on schedule as a loss? Otherwise it’s just a cancelled meet. Or just call it a cancellation.
A forfeit is a loss even if it has been pulled off the schedule