By Cameron Smith

A Maryland girls swimming team has had its county championship title retroactively stripped for one of the more bizarre retroactive punishments to come down in recent years: It was deemed that improper shaving had occurred.

Broadneck swimmer Lauren Fogarty competes in the women’s 200-yard relay at the Anne Arundel County Championships. …
That’s right, improper shaving. Not shaving points mind you, but shaving of body hair. And, as it turns out, if the unnamed player implicated had only shaved a couple hours earlier, she and her teammates would still have their county title.
As reported by a number of Maryland news outlets, the Baltimore Sun and Annapolis Capital among them, the Broadneck (Md.) High girls swimming squad lost its Anne Arundel County title after it was determined that one of the team’s swimmers shaved on-site just before the start of the event. National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rules for swimming, diving and water polo stipulate that athletes can not shave before, during or after a meet once a team is on-site.
Because of the violation, Broadneck lost all points won by the swimmer implicated, dropping the Bruins from first to third place in the final standings. Severna Park (Md.) High was later declared the county champion after Broadneck’s lost points were redistributed, while the Bruins dropped from first to third place…


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