Why Does Ithaca College Have Male Rower On Women's Team After NCAA Transgender Policy Change?
The NCAA updated its transgender participation policy earlier this year to come in line with President Donald Trump's executive order to keep males out of women's sports.
However, Ithaca College – which competes in NCAA Division III – has an athlete who is male but identifies as a trans-woman on its rowing team. So, how is that possible?
Juniper Gattone, formerly Tyler Gattone, competed this past weekend in the Cayuga Duals for the Ithaca women's rowing team. Gattone competed in the 3V race, which Ithaca lost to Hamilton & William Smith.
Interestingly, on the Ithaca College official athletics website, the school did not list the entire lineup for the team. They did, however, list the teams for the other two events (2V and 1V). Perhaps they did not want to draw attention to their trans-identifying athlete.
Ithaca College has a trans-identifying male on the women's rowing team, which is in conflict with the new NCAA policy on transgender athletes.
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OutKick reached out to Ithaca for comment on their biological male competing on the women's team, but they did not respond to our request. They also did not respond to a request asking why the lineup, including Gattone, was omitted from the official recap on the school's website.
They did, however, provide a statement to Fox News Digital.
"It is the intent of Ithaca College to comply with all NCAA rules. Under those rules, the student-athlete in question has the ability to be on the roster and participate in practices and open-gender competition. This past weekend, there was a misunderstanding by the coaching staff about what constituted an official NCAA event, because there is no third varsity rowing event at NCAA championships," the statement read.
So, how is this allowed under the new NCAA transgender policy? Well, it's complicated. While the NCAA has complete oversight over the postseason, they defer to the conferences when it comes to the regular season.
Ithaca College competes in the Liberty League. The Liberty League also includes RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology).
That's notable because Sadie Schreiner, the trans-female track & field athlete who recently complained about a lack of Division I opportunities for males in women's college sports, competes on the RIT women's team.
OutKick reached out to the Liberty League to ask if they had adjusted their transgender athlete policy to comply with the NCAA. They did not respond to our request.
A similar situation played out during the volleyball season when Blaire Fleming, a trans-female on the San Jose State volleyball team, competed on the women's volleyball team. That led to several Mountain West schools forfeiting matches, which counted as losses.
Repeatedly, the NCAA told OutKick that the Mountain West had jurisdiction over the conference schedule, and the conference tournament, where SJSU finished second.
Under the NCAA's new transgender athlete policy, former San Jose State volleyball player Blaire Fleming would have been banned from competing in the NCAA Tournament.
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The NCAA caught a break because San Jose State lost to Colorado State in the Mountain West Tournament Championship. Thus, they never had to deal with the situation.
Based on the new policy, had SJSU won the MWC Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Women's Volleyball Tournament, Fleming would have been banned from competing.
That appears to be the case with Ithaca College, as well. While Gattone is currently competing on the women's team, Gattone will not be allowed to compete in the NCAA Division III Women's Championship, which takes place at the end of May.
OutKick asked the NCAA what would happen if Gattone were to compete in the NCAA Championships for Ithaca. They referred us to their transgender athlete policy.
"The policy is clear that there are no waivers available, and students assigned male at birth may not compete on a women’s team with amended birth certificates or other forms of ID. If competition occurs, the team will be considered a mixed team and not eligible to compete against women’s teams," an NCAA spokesperson said.
It will be interesting to see what the NCAA does should Gattone continue to compete on the women's rowing team at Ithaca. Stay tuned.