A swimmer suspended for much of the high school season was granted a waiver to compete at an Indiana high school sectional meet, prompting protests from swimmers and parents.
The Indy Star reported on the controversy last week. The Fishers Police Department said in that story that it had an open harrassment case involving a Fishers High School student, and that the student was set to compete at a sectional swim meet the following weekend. The story identifies the student as a boy who is “one of the state’s top high school swimmers.”
The local NBC affiliate WTHR published a full-length piece earlier this week, quoting several members of the Fishers High School girls swim team. The girls say that the male swimmer in question sent disturbing texts to his female teammates. “He would start saying these really abusive things about girls,” one swimmer says in the story. “He would also say violent things he would do to other people that wasn’t sexual — violent things about the school.”
After several months of the messages, the girls say they went to a teacher who then reported the texts to school authorities. The result was a Title IX investigation, during which the male swimmer was not allowed to participate with the swim team, and had to complete his schoolwork from home. WTHR reports that the school district, Hamilton Southeastern Schools, sent letters to the families of some female swimmers, announcing that the district had found “substantiated cases of harrassment” and that the male swimmer “would not be allowed to swim or compete with the Fishers High School swim team.”
The boy’s attorney, though, says the school prematurely sent the letters to parents because the Title IX appeal process hadn’t yet concluded. He says that the text messages were “out of order and out of context,” per WTHR, noting that the male swimmer has a clean disciplinary record and a GPA above 4.0. The attorney says the boy is being “villainized” and that his academic and athletic career (the attorney says the swimmer has an offer to swim at a major university) “hang in the balance.”
Multiple news outlets now report that the swimmer was allowed to swim at his sectional meet, after the Indiana girls high school season had already ended. The formerly-suspended swimmer had missed enough time that he technically didn’t meet Indiana’s participation requirements and wouldn’t have been eligible for the post-season. But WTHR reports that the Fishers High School principal and athletic director personally called the Indiana High School Athletic Association to request a waiver for the male swimmer, allowing him to compete at sections and state.
The IHSAA says that “student and fan behavior in every aspect is the direct responsibility of the principal,” and that because the principal and athletic director asked for the waiver, IHSAA bylaws call for the state high school league to grant the waiver. The school wrote a letter to parents, explaining that the male swimmer would be allowed to swim at the boys sectional meet because he wouldn’t be competing with the girls team.
WTHR reports that more than 50 people showed up to the sectional meet on Saturday to protest the swimmer’s inclusion.
Everybody is now guilty until they prove their innocence. This kid hasn’t been given the opportunity for his due process, once he gets that and if he is guilty, then we can filet him. Until then, wind it on down cupcakes
I agree! One person word against a bunch of teenaged troubled girls! Probably got their feelings hurt because of rejection and can’t handle it! Put your big girls panties on and move on!
I cannot believe this district, school, and coach have treated these girls so badly. They have to go back to practice with a coach doesn’t care about them and their safety if it compromises his ability to win. Shame on you coach Keller! The following article is today’s latest on this sad controversy.
https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2019/02/22/fishers-high-school-swimmer-suspension-botched-hse-school-board-ihsaa/2949529002/
The last line in the NBC article linked to above states that WTHR is not naming the male swimmer because he has not been charged with a crime. I would like to know why he hasn’t been charged with a crime.
AfterShock – we don’t know every detail of the case, but based on what’s been made public by his accusers, this is a case of ‘sexual harassment,’ which is not actually a criminal offense. In certain circumstances, it can lead to civil liabilities (in a workplace with a position of authority, for example); and other crimes can be involved in certain situations if it’s an adult and a minor, for example, but between peers, ‘sexual harassment’ is not explicitly a criminal offense.
(Not a lawyer, don’t take this as legal advice).
Hear say by the girls! No proof!
Where this boys parents?
comment minor compared to the above story, but at the IHSAA Jasper sectional last weekend, there was a swimmer that first pointed to the crowd, yelling the “F U” bomb several times , then looked at teams sitting on deck, pointed and yelled the “F U” bomb again and capped it off by pointing to the other swimmers on the block next to him and yelled the same yet again. We (parents in the stands) were in disbelief that the official let him swim the event. The official and coach did pull the boy to the side immediately after and talked with him…nonetheless , he continued swimming prelims and finals. Everyones thoughts on this and how it should’ve been handled?
I’d hesitate to share too many thoughts without knowing more about the situation. Good coaching, and officiating, in cases like this involve trying to understand rather than just flying in with enraged reactions. Regardless, it sounds like that individual probably needs someone to talk to, moreso than he needs someone to scold him, so it sounds like that’s what happened.
In situations where nobody is overtly harmed (and, regardless of everyone’s personal moral sensitivities and beliefs, we’ve all heard that word enough times that we should be past the point of feeling harmed by it), I think that getting to the root of the problem can be much more valuable that just a reactionary punitive measure like immediate disqualification, though… Read more »
I understand why reading just what is written would envoke these emotions you all are sharing, but the truth is there is another side of the story. This boy was baited, coerced & then betrayed by a girl who quit the team months ago & has been trying to cause massive amounts of trouble ever since.
Except article reports girls (plural).
The local news shared some of the texts before they were taken down.. Those weren’t coerced or baited texts.. Try again.. And, he sent them to multiple girls…
Future Supreme Court candidate. Fits right in with Kavanaugh
Except none of the far fetched bogus claims were substantiated or even close to corroborated in the BS Kavanaugh case!
Wow. Just makes you wonder if he wasn’t a top swimmer, would this have been the outcome? This shouldn’t be tolerated.