Noor Alexandria Abukaram had just finished her greatest race to date at a 5K run at her local district meet on Saturday. It was her personal best time: 22 minutes and 22 seconds.

But when the 16-year-old got to the finish line, she noticed her name and time were not listed. When Abukaram asked why, officials said her hijab violated the uniform policy and that she had been disqualified. Her personal best time didnt even count.

The Sylvania Northview High School cross-country runner had competed in previous meets with no problems until Saturdays Division 1 Northwest District cross-country meet in eastern Ohio.

At first it was just so humiliating and then was huge disbelief, Abukaram told HuffPost. This has never happened to me.

Race officials told the teen that she needed to have a waiver signed by the Ohio High School Athletic Association in order to race even though she had never been asked for one before in all her time on school cross-country, track and soccer teams. She was in her normal race gear black Nike leggings, an Under Armour top with the teams jersey, and a Nike hijab to comply with her religious values and didnt expect any issues.

An OHSAA representative told HuffPost that cross-country runners are allowed to participate in competitions wearing religious headwear so long as the runners obtained a waiver from the OHSAA and submitted it to the head office before the race since it is a change to the OHSAA uniform regulations.

Saturdays officials [were] simply enforcing this rule since a waiver had not been submitted, the spokesperson continued, adding that the organization is now looking at this specific uniform regulation to potentially modify it in the future, so that religious headwear does not require a waiver.

The disqualification was emblematic of what many women who wear hijabs go through while participating in sports. While each sport has its own rules with regards to religious headwear, Muslim women who compete while wearing a hijab have faced a litany of obstacles. In 2017, the International Basketball Federation overturned its long-criticized ban on religious headwear , including the hijab, after much scrutiny. Following the suit, the International Boxing Association announced earlier this year that Muslim women would also be allowed to compete in a hijab.

Anybody who wears hijab or anyone who has to wear something for their religion shouldnt have to get a waiver to race or not race at all, Abukaram said.