High school runner who hit opponent in head with baton mid-race speaks out
Two high school runners are speaking out after a now-viral video showed one track star hitting her competitor in the head with a baton.
During the Virginia State High School League Championships on March 3, Alaila Everett, a senior at I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, was running the second leg of the 4x200-meter relay when her baton struck Kaelen Tucker, a junior from Brookville High School, in the head.
The moment captured on camera showed Kaelen staggering and reaching for her head before falling off the track.
"I just felt a bang on my head, and then I fell off the track immediately," Kaelen, a high school junior, said in an interview according to local ABC affiliate WVEC-TV.
Kaelen dropped her baton and was attended to by medical personnel shortly after the incident. She would later be diagnosed with a concussion, she said.
In an interview that aired Tuesday on "Good Morning America," Alaila, the runner whose baton hit Kaelen on the head, described the incident as an accident.
"I would never do that on purpose," Alaila told ABC News. "That's not in my character."
The 18-year-old high school senior said her family has received death threats since the incident and maintains that the collision was unintentional. She also provided video that shows a different angle from the race in an effort to help show what she says happened on the track.
Alaila said that during the race, her arm became stuck, and her baton inadvertently struck Kaelen as they neared the corner.
"Her arm was literally hitting the baton -- until she got a little ahead, and my arm got stuck like this," she said while holding a baton to emphasize the movement.
The Everetts say they believe their video shows that Kaelen's proximity to Alaila led to an accidental collision. According to the family, Kaelen was running too close to Alaila when she tried to cut ahead, which caused Alaila to lose her balance and the baton to make contact with Kaelen.
While the footage from the March 3 race has brought a wave of negative attention, Alaila said she hopes the new angle of the race will help the public see the incident from a different perspective. And, she said, it was never her intention to hurt anyone.
Following the incident, the athletic director at I.C. Norcom High School and Alaila's father apologized to the Tucker family in a phone call, according to Kaelen's parents.
The Virginia High School League told ABC News in a statement Monday, "We thoroughly review every instance like this."
"The VHSL membership has always made it a priority to provide student-athletes with a safe environment for competition," the statement continued.
