Alaska’s Anchorage School District is investigating the disqualification of 17-year-old female swimmer Breckynn Willis from a race she won Friday night over the fit of her suit, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
After winning the 100 free for Dimond High School, an official told Willis she was disqualified because her “swimsuit was exposing too much of her buttocks,” according to the Post. Willis, a multi-time state champion, was wearing a suit issued to her by the school, and her coach filed a protest with the official that was denied.
The call has drawn allegation of sexism, and some of racism, among the community. Lauren Langford, a coach at another local high school, told the Post that she believed that Willis being a minority race played a role in the DQ — all the girls on her team were wearing the suit, but only one swimmer was called for it. Last year, the same official had approached Willis’ younger sister about the fit of her suit as well, according to NBC affiliate KTUU.
“All of these girls are all wearing suits that are cut the same way,” Langford said. “And the only girl who gets disqualified is a mixed-race girl with rounder, curvier features.” The official who made the call has not been identified, but Annette Rohde, another official working the meet, told the Anchorage Daily News that she was shocked by her colleague’s decision: “I told her, ‘I need to know how you’re defining this, because this is going to blow up,'” Rohde said.
This wasn’t the first time Breckynn had been singled-out, either. Last year, a parent “took a photo of her backside” and shared it with other parents to point out the way female athletes were wearing their suits. The swimmer had been accused of intentional hiking her suit up.
Langford also penned a now-viral blog post on Medium.com about the situation.
The district expects the coach to appeal and released a statement Monday on the situation:
“We intend to gather all the facts surrounding the disqualification so we can accurately address the matter with officials and take appropriate action to ensure fair, equitable competition and consistent application of the rules for this athlete and her peers.
Because swimming and diving suit coverage rules and regulations have been an ongoing national discussion, the Dimond High School Swim Program has made deliberate efforts over the last year to ensure athletes’ uniforms meet the regulations prescribed by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) to avoid any confusion or misinterpretation. This year, the Dimond swim team has purchased approved, team suits for every swimmer that meet the requirements put forth by the NFHS. The disqualified athlete was wearing the approved, school-issued suit during the race. In the first three meets this year, the Dimond swim team has had no disqualifications related to the wear of the swim uniform.
The NFHS provides the rules and regulations by which our athletic competitions are conducted. ASD contracts with local swim clubs to conduct swim meets across the District under the rules stipulated by the NFHS. Officials’ decisions are independent, guided by those rules. However, we expect all referees and officials to conduct themselves in a manner that respects the dignity and rights of every student athlete regardless of the young person’s gender, body shape, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, or disability.”
The National Federation of State High School Associations, the governing body for high school athletics, has standards for swimwear, recently updated for the 2019-2020 season. It states that “females shall wear suits which cover the buttocks and breasts. In August, the organization released a memo about suit coverage and circulated an illustrated example of appropriate attire.
“What we’re attempting to do is try to define the parameters of the problem that quite frankly has been brought to us by adults who are uncomfortable being on deck with young men and young ladies who are not appropriately covered,” Sandy Searcy, director of sports for the NFHS, told KTUU.
“The goal is not to have officials focus on the backsides of male or female swimmers, but provide guidance for compliance,” KTUU said she added.
The modern suits are cut that way! My swimmer has found Tyr works best for her coverage wise, but her swimclub sponsor is speedo. What’s a girl to do? Under these guidelines my swimmer could equally be DQ’ed.
It’s the style. Look at the swimsuits available at swim outlet.com.. All are cut high up the hip and are going to wedgie in the crack. Whether it’s happening intentionally or by accident, one is going to see a lot of it at swim team. The only way to prevent it is to find a more modest cut suit and provide it and rule that it is the only one to be worn.
I wonder what that official thinks of the boys showing buttcrack? That’s quite the rage, too.
Everyone has an ass and everyone knows that. Who gives a crap seriously. Those officials need to go out and explore some of the world besides Alaska. There is nothing wrong with what the girl did.
This is not a news story about other swim programs and hiking suits up. This was a school issued swim uniform that was worn appropriately. No question about that. One as yet unidentified swim official had body type issues, not school uniform issues. And we are all evolved enough in the swimming community to know you don’t disqualify any swimmer because of his or her body type. This news story is a cautionary tale about wrongful actions taken by certified swim officials and how their subjective opinion, not substantiated DQ criteria – can go way askew of the values and ethics that swim associations aspire to represent and support. Especially so at the youth swimming level – which is the… Read more »
I’m curious if this will lead to any lawsuits. Anybody know if there r possible legal issues with these rules?
I’m not an attorney, but I find it unlikely, as most schools have ‘modesty rules’ in place, and there haven’t been successful challenges to ‘modesty rules’ that I know of. Here’s a general discussion of the legality of dress codes in the US. It’s a little confusing, given that she was technically wearing her uniform, but in essence this would be the same as challenging a “dress code.”
https://stories.avvo.com/rights/that-outfit-is-like-totally-unconstitutional.html
It’s the team uniform! I’m a guy and on my team they DQ you if you wear another cap, even a blank cap or a cap for a championship meet. I know it’s probably not the same case there but if you’re wearing the uniform that your school tells you to wear, then do that. If the officials had a problem they could have issued a warning before warm up, during warm up, after warm up, or before her race. It’s ridiculous how she won the event, got points for her team, and they tried to take that away
This rule is absolutely ridiculous and invites so much unwanted attention to female swimmers bodies. Stop punishing girls for getting a wedgie! Like as a girl with a bigger backside I’ve been ridiculed for years for my suit riding up when there’s not much I can do about when I’m swimming and the fact that I could be disqualified because I’m not a skinny stick is even more insulting. High school officials need to pay attention to the actual race happening and actually look for legit dqs and not girls bodies, team suits no matter what r gonna fit different on every body because all bodies r different. Let girls be comfortable in their own body’s and stop objecting girls… Read more »
The NFHS rulebook gives extraordinary power to the Referee to set aside the application of a Rule or conduct a re-swim if there is obvious unfairness. This could have been applied here to avoid a hyper-technical application of a modesty rule and ensure an eligible athlete receives proper credit for her time when wearing an approved school suit. I hope the official receives some amount of due process and mentoring.