VSHL Class 3 State Indoor Championships – A track and field competition of high school runners. What could go wrong, right? Turns out, everything. While competing in the 4×200-meter relay at Liberty University, Kaelen Tucker attempted to overtake the Norcom runner, Alaila Everett. The very next thing? The baton came swinging down on Tucker, and she stumbled, slowed down, and eventually collapsed on the track’s interior. Diagnosis shows a concussion and a suspected skull fracture. Everett, who has consistently denied any ill intention, has been charged with assault. Amid all the commotion, track legend Justin Gatlin also shared a piece of his mind.
So were the charges justified? For Gatlin, the answer to that is not very simple. “I don’t think so, not to that severity of assault, right? Sometimes your emotions and your competitiveness can get the best of you in these situations,” Gatlin pointed out over whether the charge was justified. In her interview with WAVY, the I.C. Norcom student straight away denied any wrongdoing, ruling the unfortunate incident out as an accident. “After a couple times of hitting her, my baton got stuck behind her back like this, and it rolled up her back. I lost my balance when I pumped my arms again. She got hit.” Gatlin, pondering it in a YouTube video, said, “Now do I know if it’s true, as in a sense of she meant to do it, or if it’s by accident, I’m not sure.”
He might not be sure of the young track sensation’s intention, but he is sure about what should have happened but did not. “Apologies should be issued to that young girl who got hit in the back of the head. That’s something that I would have first did if I was the person doing the hitting, like I would have walked up to her, like, hey, I’m sorry, I didn’t, arm got wild, wasn’t meant to be done that way, sorry, left it as is.” The Olympian further said that things did get out of hand, and how it’s gonna impact the young ladies.
Stressing over the fact that these are still high school girls, he emphasized that this would become their identity. “People are going to recognize them as these like semi-fan celebrities of either the assaulted or the assaulter, and they’re never going to get any peace,” he said. Further stressing this, he pointed out that people are going to zero in on these things every time they are seen. But he also wishes the best for them, citing, “So I wish the best for them, and I hope that they’re able to focus on their craft, which (3:18) is running, and hope they both are able to heal from it.”
As soon as it happened, Judges spotted the foul and disqualified the Norcom team for what is known as “contact interference”. Statements have come from both parties. Let’s hear them.
What do the two-track and field athletes have to say?
While talking to WSLS, Tucker, the victim said, “When we got to the curve she kept bumping me in my arm, and when we got off the curve, I finally passed her and that was when she hit me with the baton,” in the video the Norcom athlete can be seen freeing her right arm before swinging wildly. What’s also visible in the video is her making another bashing motion, missing Tucker’s head for a second hit, dropping her baton, and running past her ailing opponent, pointing at her.
“Get off” and “hey oh,” the runner uttered as she struck Tucker, LipReader founder Nicola Hickling told the Daily Mail. The I.C. Norcom High School senior broke down in tears in an interview with WAVYTV10. “I would never hit somebody on purpose.” She claimed that everybody is worried about her opponent’s physical health, but not her mental health. “They’re assaulting my character, calling me ghetto, racist slurs, death threats, all of this, just because of a nine-second video.” She added. Her family has categorically denied that their daughter could ever harm somebody the way she has been alleged.
What’s more, this incident is far from being the first of its kind. There have been similar instances before that really make one stop and think: is it not the collective responsibility of the track fraternity to establish a culture of healthy and mutually beneficial competition?
The post Heartbroken Track & Field Legend Urges Healing as Viral Baton Incident Threatens Young Athletes’ Futures appeared first on EssentiallySports.
