A former Rochester Institute of Technology sprinter has broken her silence about competing alongside a transgender teammate, sharing her experience of watching her program records fall while navigating uncomfortable locker room situations.
Caroline Hill turned down Division I scholarships to compete at RIT. She established herself early as a standout athlete, setting program records in the 200-meter and 300-meter events during her collegiate career. However, her achievements were later surpassed by transgender teammate Sadie Schreiner, creating what Hill describes as a fundamentally unfair competitive environment.
“Personally, I saw it as ‘This is not fair. This is definitively unfair,'” Hill said, reflecting on being paired as workout partners with Schreiner by their coaches. The expectation that they would train as equals particularly troubled Hill, given what she viewed as inherent biological advantages.
Hill’s concerns extended beyond the track into personal spaces. She recounts feeling “kind of mortified” when encountering Schreiner in the women’s locker room, where their lockers were positioned adjacent to each other. The situation forced Hill to alter her routine, waiting for opportunities to change when Schreiner wasn’t present or rushing through the process when avoidance wasn’t possible.
“If he was like standing there doing something or whatever, I would kind of wait for him to be somewhere else before I changed,” Hill explained. “Or there were times where I did, but I would just change as quickly as I could and, you know, I was able to just like suck it up, I guess. Not that I should have had to do that.”
When Hill attempted to voice her concerns to administrators, she encountered firm resistance. According to Hill, athletic director Jacqueline Nicholson dismissed her objections during a team meeting, claiming that “some of you women have more testosterone than he does” and characterizing any opposition as unacceptable.
Hill’s efforts to discuss the matter with her sprint coach proved equally unsuccessful, with her concerns being minimized and deflected rather than addressed with empathy.
The competitive impact became undeniable as Schreiner systematically broke Hill’s records. In 2024, Schreiner cleared Hill’s 300-meter record by 1.42 seconds, and the following year shattered her 200-meter mark with a time of 24.46, compared to Hill’s best of 25.82.
Even after the NCAA changed its transgender participation policy in February following President Trump’s executive order, Hill alleges that Schreiner continued using women’s facilities and training with the team for approximately another month, despite being ruled ineligible for competition.
The ongoing situation has prompted Schreiner to seek competitive opportunities elsewhere, including non-NCAA sanctioned events where the athlete has continued to compete in women’s categories. Schreiner recently filed a lawsuit against Princeton University over alleged exclusion from a women’s race.
Hill, who initially joined Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA as an anonymous plaintiff, has now decided to speak publicly about her experience. She cites concerns about retaliation that previously kept her silent, but believes the changing cultural climate makes it important to share her story.
“I feel like it’s worthwhile to come forward [now] just because I have the ability to use what has happened to me as a way to show that harm is being done to women, to female athletes,” Hill stated. She hopes her voice will encourage other female athletes who feel unable to speak out about similar situations.
Hill is now calling for RIT to formally apologize and reinstate her as the official program record-holder for both the 200-meter and 300-meter events.
