A runner competing in an indoor track meet was left with a concussion after a competitor hit her in the head with the relay baton.

Kaelen Tucker was running for Brookville High in the Virginia High School League Championship race on March 3.

She was hit in the head during the second leg of the 4x200 relay when trying to pass the other runner, Alaila Everett.

Video from the meet shows the two runners next to each other coming around a corner. As Kaelen passed Alaila, Alaila swung the baton and hit Kaelen on the head. Kaelen dropped her baton and clutched her head.

She was eventually diagnosed with a concussion.

A league track official said that Kaelen was too close to Alaia and that led to the hit.

“It’s the one event in indoor track where there’s the most contact, in the history of track & field,” Vincent Pugh told WVEC. “Imagine me running side by side with you… even at this point, she’s not a stride ahead of her.”

Kaelen’s mother said the strike was not an accident.

“To see that they kept running and she [did] not stop and check on my daughter... it couldn’t have been an accident,” Tamarro Tucker told “Good Morning America.”

Alaila’s father, who called Kaelen to apologize, said that it was an accident, adding that Kaelen was too close to Alaila and tried to cut his daughter off too soon around the curve, causing Alaila to lose her balance. She was trying to keep her balance while not losing the baton.

“When the young lady cut her off, my daughter couldn’t pump her arms… no control where your arms go,” Genoah Everett told WVEC.

Alalia said that she and Kaelen bumped into each other on the curve.

“We get to the curve, and I feel someone coming up on me,” Alaila told WSET. “I’m running, and she’s just getting closer and closer to the point where she’s up on me. My baton is - her elbow, like her arm is literally hitting my baton so I lost balance.”

She told WAVY, “After a couple of times hitting her, my baton got stuck behind her back like this, and it rolled up her back. I lost my balance and pumped my arms again. She got hit.”

Alalia said that everyone is just seeing one angle of the race.

He also defended his daughter from critics who have posted on social media.

“I just want to emphasize how much of a negative effect this is having on entire communities,” Everett told WVEC. “We have young kids trying to defend their friend against grown adults on social media. That should never be happening… Most of the people attacking my daughter—and us—are adults.”

Alalia’s team from I.C. Norcom High School was disqualified from the event, WAVY reported. But Pugh said that may not have been the right call since the two were running so close together.

“If a person comes up on the outside, they got to be a full stride ahead of me before they can cut in front of me,” Pugh told WAVY.

Portsmouth Public Schools released a statement which read, “The division immediately reported the incident to the Virginia High School League (VHSL), which is still investigating. We are cooperating with the VHSL in its work. The division will support and follow the ruling... upon its completed investigation," WVEC reported.

The league also released a statement which read, “The actions taken by the meet director to disqualify the runner were appropriate and correct. We thoroughly review every instance like this that involves player safety with the participating schools. The VHSL membership has always made it a priority to provide student-athletes with a safe environment for competition.”

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