ASD: We spoke with swim official before taking action

The swim official at the center of a controversial disqualification made Sept. 6 over a high school athlete's swimsuit has said she's not getting fair treatment.

One day after Jill Blackstone came forward to say she'd only enforced the rules, and that neither the school district nor activities officials had spoken with her prior to overturning her call, the Anchorage School District, which wants the official decertified, is holding firm.

Certification of officials is handled through the Alaska School Activities Association. The Anchorage School District formally asked ASAA to decertify Blackstone, citing a belief that the official had targeted Willis and her sister.

"During the last six days, neither ASAA nor ASD has asked for an explanation from me about the events that led to the disqualification or asked me if I had a defense to the accusations that have been leveled at me," Blackstone said in a prepared statement released Thursday.

Friday afternoon, one week after the Sept. 6 disqualification of high school swimmer Breckynn Willis, the school district offered this in response to Blackstone's statement:

Tuesday afternoon, Billy Strickland, Executive Director for ASAA, told KTUU that the association had received a statement about the incident from Blackstone. He declined to provide a copy of the statement to KTUU.

Here is Blackstone's comment in its entirety:

Friday night, Dimond holds its first meet since last week's incident. Willis' mother, Meagan Kowatch, told KTUU "the girls' races will speak for themselves."