Transgender Sprinter Sues Princeton Over Last-Minute Ban

Princeton University and the organizers of a track meet sponsored by the school have been sued in New Jersey state court by a transgender woman who claims she was illegally disqualified 15 minutes before her race was set to begin due to her gender identity.

The suit, filed in Mercer County Superior Court July 15, alleges that Sadie Schreiner was unlawfully removed from the list of participants right before the start of her event—the 200-meter race at the Larry Ellis Invitational track meet. Schreiner, who transitioned in high school, was a Division III women’s All-American at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she had significant success, including becoming a two-time All American.

This comes amid the backdrop of escalating legal and political battles over the rights of transgender athletes across the country. In February, President Trump signed an executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports in schools. The following day, the NCAA announced changes to its transgender athlete participation policy that were in line with the executive order. Trump’s order has received pushback, including from a group of high school athletes who challenged it in New Hampshire federal court less than two weeks later. 

Under the new rules, Schreiner—who is a sophomore—is not allowed to continue competing as a female NCAA sprinter, though unattached athletes at college track meets generally don’t have to comply with NCAA eligibility requirements. She has been outspoken about this on social media, including saying in a March 15 Instagram post “I very likely just ran what will be my last meet in the United States.” In that post, she said “colleges are too scared” to allow her to compete in the wake of Trump’s executive order.

She had signed up for the Princeton meet as an unattached athlete not affiliated with any other school, one of dozens of athletes there who did so, according to the complaint.

“But just 15 minutes before the start of the 200-meter race, Schreiner learned her name had been deleted from the official heat list,” the suit says. “Despite paying the $44 registration fee and checking in, she was suddenly excluded without explanation.”

In addition to Princeton, named defendants include its director of athletics John Mack, its director of track operations Kimberly Keenan-Kirkpatrick, and Leone Timing and Results Services, which was the entity hired to time the races.

The suit claims that the removal of Schreiner, allegedly done by Leone at the behest of Princeton, is illegal under New Jersey discrimination laws. Further, the way the situation was handled resulted in a “humiliating, dehumanizing and dignity-stripping ordeal.” 

For example, when Shreiner approached Mack and Keenan-Kirkpatrick at one point to ask about what happened, she was allegedly told “I do not want to assume, but you are transgender.”

“Simply stated, when Princeton University, unlawfully aided and abetted by the other individually named defendants, denied her right to run in the Larry Ellis Invitational track meet, they broke the law controlling guaranteed protections of the rights of transgender women,” the suit says.

Princeton, Mack, Keenan-Kirkpatrick, and Leone Timing did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Shreiner’s attorney, Susie Cirilli of Cirilli LLC, tells Front Office Sports “we stand by the allegations in the pleading. As stated in the complaint, the defendants’ individual actions go beyond the possible bounds of decency.”

Cirilli is also the attorney for a different transgender woman, Cammie Woodman, who last month launched a lawsuit in New York state court against the Tennis League Network—a platform that organizes adult amateur tennis leagues—and two individuals after she was “kicked out” of a women’s league following one match that took place in March. There, the player she beat raised the fact that Woodman is transgender to TLN’s owner, who asked Woodman to move to “an appropriate level men’s division.” When she refused, she was removed from the league, the suit says.