Girls high school track star gets bashed in the head with a baton at Virginia state championships

According to reports, Brookville (Virginia) junior Kaelen Tucker was hit in the back of the head by an opponent runner
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The Virginia High School League (VHSL) is looking into an incident that happened from last week's track and field state championships at Lynchburg, Virginia.

Brookville High School (Virginia) junior Kaelen Tucker was running in the second leg of the 4x200 relay when she was hit in the back of the head with a baton by an unnamed runner from I.C. Norcom High School.

Tucker ended up suffering a concussion because of the hit from the baton.

“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 said in a report to WSLS.

“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 below, Tucker can be seen running side-by-side with the unnamed runner from I.C Norcom before she is eventually hit in the back of the head with the baton, thus dropping her own baton and immediately reaching for her head.

According to a 6 ABC News report, the unnamed runner's father and school's athletic director reached out to Tucker to apologize for the incident.

"I definitely want the coaches and a personal apology from the actual athlete as well, because it's only you know, it's only right," Keith Tucker, father of Kaelen, said via the 6 ABC News report.


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Andy Villamarzo
ANDY VILLAMARZO

Andy Villamarzo has been a sports writer in the Tampa Bay (FL) Area since 2007, writing for publications such as Tampa Bay Times, The Tampa Tribune, The Suncoast News, Tampa Beacon, Hernando Sun to name a few. Andy resides out of the Tarpon Springs, FL area and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in the summer of 2022 covering the Tampa Bay Area. He has quickly become one of Florida's foremost authorities on high school sports, appearing frequently on podcasts, radio programs and digital broadcasts as an expert on team rankings, recruiting and much more.