A transgender runner is suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association and a New York state university for denying her a spot in a tournament.

Sadie Schreiner, a runner on Rochester Institute of Technology’s track and field team during the 2023-2024 season, said she was turned away from the women’s 200-meter and 400-meter races at SUNY Geneseo’s Early Invitational in March. That was despite Schreiner having qualifying times to make her eligible to race.

“As stated in the complaint, the track meet at issue was open to members of the public. SUNY Geneseo violated New York state law when it excluded Sadie because she is a transgender woman,” said Schreiner’s lawyer, Susie Cirilli, according to Geneseo’s NBC affiliate.

Schreiner signed up to compete in the invitational as an independent athlete, not as a representative of her school. Because of that, her lawsuit claims, she should have avoided problems with a new NCAA rule instituted in February that bars transgender women from competing in girls or women’s sporting events.

The NCAA instituted the rule after President Donald Trump signed an executive order withholding federal funding from academic institutions that allow trans women to compete with cisgender women.

NCAA President Charlie Baker said in February it was important to have consistent rules at sanctioned tournaments.

“We strongly believe that clear, consistent, and uniform eligibility standards would best serve today’s student-athletes instead of a patchwork of conflicting state laws and court decisions. To that end, President Trump’s order provides a clear, national standard,” Baker said in a statement at the time.

But Schreiner’s suit alleges the restrictions put NCAA tournaments in New York out of compliance with state law. Citing the New York State Human Rights Law, the complaint argues state statutes take precedence over NCAA rules.

Of note, a Nassau County judge declined earlier this year to throw out a local ordinance that prohibited transgender participation in women’s sports, despite a legal challenge asserting that the ban went against New York’s human rights protections.

In 2024, Schreiner won the women’s 200-meter and 400-meter races at the invitational.