Yuki Hebner (Photo: Courtesy Wesleyan University Cross Country)
A few months earlier, at Wesleyan University, Cain’s story had a similar impact on another group of women. In March 2020, 36 Wesleyan cross-country and track alumnae signed a letter detailing allegations of a culture of disordered eating, body shaming, and injuries that they experienced under their head coach, John Crooke. They said that Crooke had encouraged athletes to lose weight without guidance from trained nutrition professionals and had provided medically incorrect information to women on the team, leading them to believe that gaining weight caused stress fractures, excess weight led to performance plateaus, and the absence of a menstrual cycle was not a problem.