A trans athlete is suing Princeton after being removed from a race

Abraham Gutman, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jul 17, 2025

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A 21-year-old athlete is accusing Princeton University of discrimination for excluding her from a May race hosted at the school because she’s transgender, according to a lawsuit.

Sadie Schreiner, a New Jersey resident and NCAA division III runner, arrived at Princeton on May 3 to participate in the Larry Ellis Invitational, an annual race named after the first Black head coach in the Ivy League. Schreiner entered as one of the 141 participants unattached to a university or club, according to the complaint.

The runner declared for the 200-meter women’s race but, the suit says, 15 minutes prior to the race Schreiner noticed that her name was not on the official heat list.

“I do not want to assume, but you are transgender,” a Princeton official told Schreiner, according to the complaint.

Schreiner pleaded with the officials to let her run, noting that her birth certificate and driver’s license reflect that she’s recognized as a woman by government authorities, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Mercer County Superior Court of New Jersey, says that Princeton and Leon Timing and Results Services, the company that assisted in the logistics of the race, violated the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination, which designates “gender identity or expression” as a protected status.

Princeton and Leon Timing and Results Services did not respond to requests for comment.

The lawsuit comes at a time universities are increasingly under fire for allowing transgender athletes to participate in events. In the first weeks of his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from sports in universities that receive public funds.

In response, the NCAA banned trans women from its competitions.

Penn announced a deal with the White House earlier this month, agreeing to many of the administration’s demands regarding trans swimmer Lia Thomas to restore $175 million in withheld federal funding.

A federal lawsuit against Penn brought by Thomas’ former teammates, alleging that they were denied opportunities because they competed alongside a trans athlete, is ongoing.

Schreiner’s complaint flips the script of such allegations. Inclusion of trans athletes isn’t discriminatory, it argues, but their exclusion is — at least under New Jersey law.

The runner won two All-American titles in her time as a student at the Rochester Institute of Technology, competing in 200- and 400-meter dashes.

But since, Schreiner has been excluded from multiple events that she qualified for in recent months, including this year’s NCAA nationals, according to her Instagram.

“Now, with the NCAA banning me, with USA Track & Field banning me, with World Athletics banning me, and with colleges too scared to allow me to participate due to Trump’s executive order, there is nowhere in the country that I’m able to compete,” Schreiner said in a March Instagram video.

Schreiner told ESPN earlier this year that hormone therapy made her slower. Studies have found that after hormone therapy, the athletic performance of trans women is more comparable to cis women than it was before the treatment. The medication regiment she takes keeps her testosterone levels undetectable.

“I don’t know what would happen if I don’t have track and field, and I’m not going to see that reality,” Schreiner told ESPN.

At Princeton, the lawsuit says, Schreiner was humiliated in front of family members who came to see her compete.

“As stated in the complaint, the defendant’s individual actions go beyond the possible bounds of decency,” Susie Cirilli, the attorney representing Schreiner, said in a statement.

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