"That was what I had harder time with"- Riley Gaines' lawsuit plaintiff Caroline Hill accuses trans athlete Sadie Schreiner of locker room discomfort

Former Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) athlete Caroline Hill, who joined Riley Gaines’ lawsuit against the NCAA in 2024 as an anonymous plaintiff, has now come forward to put her name publicly. Gaines is one of several female athletes who filed a lawsuit against the NCAA in 2024, alleging that its policy permitting transgender women to compete in women’s sports violates Title IX.

Recently, Hill spoke publicly about how she felt uncomfortable sharing a women’s locker room with transgender athlete Sadie Schreiner. Hill alleged that even after the NCAA changed its transgender policy on February 6, 2025, Schreiner continued using the women’s locker room and training with the team for about a month.

"Personally, I saw it as, ‘This is not fair. This is definitively unfair’… the expectation was that we are equals, being perceived as equals by the coach. That was what I had a harder time with." (via Fox News)

Hill claims RIT athletics officials defended Schreiner’s participation, with one stating that some women on the team had more testosterone than Schreiner. Some teammates supported Schreiner’s inclusion, but Hill protested to coaches and administrators, claiming her concerns were dismissed.

"I had a couple conversations with her ((Jacqueline Nicholson, Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at RIT). She was very firm in that ‘This is what the NCAA is enforcing. We're supporting it,'" Hill said. "We even had a meeting with the women on the team where she addressed us and said, ‘We support this athlete competing on the team. Some of you women have more testosterone than he does,’ making it seem like it was totally fair and just as if we had a problem with it, that was not OK. It was very, very harsh."

Schreiner broke Hill’s 300m record in 2024 and her 200m record in early 2025. Hill is now asking RIT to apologize and restore her status as the program record-holder for both events.

Swimmer-turned-activist Riley Gaines has been a vocal critic of the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports. She attended the University of Kentucky and earned 12 NCAA All-American honors during her collegiate career. Gaines became a prominent voice on the issue in 2022 after tying for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle with transgender athlete Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA Women’s Championships.

---

Riley Gaines got into a feud with Olympic gymnast Simone Biles over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports

Turning Point Inaugural-Eve Ball Held In Washington, D.C. - Source: Getty

Two months ago, Riley Gaines and Simone Biles traded barbs over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women’s sports. The clash began when Gaines made a mocking remark about a transgender girl on Champlin Park High School’s girls’ softball team, which had won the state championship. Biles publicly called out Gaines for singling out individual athletes and criticized her campaign against transgender athletes, calling it as coming from losing to one in competition. (Riley Gaines did not lose, she tied for fifth place).

The exchange drew mixed reactions on social media, and Biles later issued an apology to Riley Gaines. In her apology, the gymnast emphasized the need for both inclusivity and fairness in sports, stating her objection was to "singling out children for public scrutiny in ways that feel personal and harmful". She stressed that "individual athletes, especially kids, should never be the focus of criticism for a flawed system they have no control over".

The verbal altercation fueled more discussion around the issue and kept the controversy in the news cycle. It also influenced two Oregon high school girls to sue the state over its transgender athlete policies.