A high school track star suffered a concussion and possible skull fracture Friday when she was bashed in the head with a baton by her opponent during a race.
Brookville High School junior Kaelen Tucker was competing in a 4×200 meter relay at Virginia’s VHSL Class 3 State Indoor Championships at Liberty University when she was physically assaulted by an opponent that she had just passed during the second leg of the race.
Tucker had run past a competitor from IC Norcom High School, who is being protected by the media and isn’t being named publicly, when the opponent lashed out with her baton, bashing Tucker in the head as the Brookville runner passed in front of her into lane one.
“When we get onto the other side of the track, we have to cross to lane one, you have to merge in, and as I was coming up on her, she kind of made me get cut off a little bit, so I backed away,” Tucker told Virginia’s WSLS-TV. “Then, as we got around the curve, she kept bumping me in my arm. Then, finally, we got off the curve. I slowly started passing her, and then that’s when she just hit me with the baton, and I fell off the track.”
A video of the incident clearly shows the IC Norcom student bashing Tucker in the head, after which the attacked runner stumbled and fell to the floor next to the track.
NEW: High school track runner gets attacked with a baton in the middle of a relay at the VSHL Class 3 State Indoor Championships.
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) March 9, 2025
Kaelen Tucker was on the second leg of the 4x200m relay at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA, when she got smacked in the head.
Tucker suffered a… pic.twitter.com/DXPMwZcaRP
The Norcom team was immediately disqualified from the meet, but Tucker and her parents, Tamarro and Keith Tucker, were unsatisfied with this official action.
The Tuckers say that neither the opposing school, its coach, nor the offending runner has apologized for the shocking attack.
“Even if it was a fluke or freak accident, you still would check on her,” the victim’s parents said.
The young woman was later diagnosed with a concussion, the family added.
Meanwhile, the Virginia High School League has reported that an investigation into the incident has been opened.
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