A girls’ swim team just got stripped of their winning title just because..illegal shaving occurred! Since a teammate shaved a few hours before the competition, the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS) determined that the swimmer violated the rules and is thus disqualified from joining the championship.

NFHS stipulated that water polo, swim, and dive teams cannot shave at the event once the team is at the venue. The rationale is to prevent possible blood transmission or unsanitary practices like sharing razors (Interesting enough, no other sport shares this policy).

Due to violation, the Broadneck swim team dropped to third place as all the swimmer’s points were subtracted. To add salt to the wound, swim coach Colleen Winans was also suspended because of her team’s violation.

Swimming World Magazine Jason Marsteller commented, “I’m not sure I’ve seen much of this type of punishment within the sport. About the only place retroactive punishments happen is in the case of positive doping tests.”

Despite (or maybe because) of the coach’s suspension, a number of Broadneck swimmers came out at first place, redeeming their school in the overall standings. “I was just going for it trying to pull ahead and do it for my coach because unfortunately she’s not here,” swim star Lauren Fogarty explained. “We got disqualified in counties and she got in trouble, so that one was for her. I wanted to make the team proud and her proud.”