Ithaca College cites ‘misunderstanding’ after transgender athlete competes in women’s race

It didn’t take long for a transgender athlete to slip past the NCAA rules barring biological males from women’s sports.

A New York college is blaming a “misunderstanding” after a male-born athlete competed last weekend on the women’s rowing team, violating the NCAA policy change implemented the day after President Trump’s Feb. 5 executive order, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

Juniper Gattone, a transgender sophomore at Ithaca College in New York, competed on the women’s rowing team Saturday at the Cayuga Duals, the opening regatta of the spring season held at the Cayuga Inlet in New York.

The Independent Council on Women’s Sports, which flagged the student’s participation, accused the college of defying the president’s order.

“Men STILL competing in NCAA women’s sports!” said ICONS in a Monday post on X. “Ithaca College women’s rowing defies President’s executive order by allowing sophomore male rower, Juniper (Tyler) Gattone, to compete in the women’s Cayuga Duals over the weekend.”

David Maley, Ithaca College director of communications, said that the college intends to comply with the NCAA’s revised transgender-eligibility policy, attributing Gattone’s participation at Saturday’s race to a “misunderstanding.”

“It is the intent of Ithaca College to comply with all NCAA rules,” he told The Washington Times in an email. “Under those rules, the student-athlete in question has the ability to be on the roster and participate in practices and open-gender competition.”

He continued: “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.”

Gattone is listed on the team’s Instagram page as a member of the women’s “3rd Varsity 8+,” meaning the third-ranked varsity eight-oared boat.

The college also confirmed that Gattone, who has participated for nearly two years in women’s rowing at the NCAA Division III school, would no longer compete on the women’s squad.

🚨Men STILL competing in NCAA women’s sports!

Ithaca College women’s rowing defies President’s executive order by allowing sophomore male rower, Juniper (Tyler) Gattone, to compete in the women’s Cayuga Duals over the weekend 🧵 pic.twitter.com/bKNZB3Susw

— ICONS (@icons_women) March 31, 2025

Marshi Smith, ICONS co-founder, noted that Ithaca College also has a men’s rowing team that raced in the Saturday contest against Hamilton College and William Smith College.

“So men rowed on all their boats and also took a limited seat in a woman’s boat as well,” she said in a Saturday email. “His [Gattone’s] boat didn’t race well today, but this marks a pivotal example of how the current NCAA policy is not barring men from competing on NCAA women’s teams.”

Advocates for single-sex sports have accused the NCAA of creating a loophole for transgender athletes by having them compete based on the sex shown on their birth records, even though 44 states allow individuals to change the sex designation on their birth certificates.

Women’s sports groups have called for the NCAA to require a cheek swab, or buccal swab, a quick and painless test that checks for the SRY gene, a marker for the male Y chromosome. The NCAA has not commented publicly on the issue.

World Athletics, the international track-and-field authority, announced last week that it will use the cheek swab to test athletes competing in the women’s field in elite international events.