HS swimmer, 16, disqualified after race reportedly over US flag on swim cap deemed too large; it was meant to honor granddad who died in 9/11 terror attacks

A New Jersey high school swimmer was disqualified after a race reportedly because the American flag on his swim cap was too large. What's more, the flag was meant to honor the swimmer's grandfather who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in New York City, Red State reported.

What are the details?

The swimmer in question is sophomore Nate Miller of Morristown High School, TAPintoParsippany reported, adding that his father, Rob Miller, said his son was disqualified after the 400-meter free relay against Parsippany Hills High School on Senior Night. The meet took place Thursday at Morristown, and TAPinto said Morristown lost the meet 89-79 after the disqualification.

Rob Miller tweeted that the Parsippany Hills coach approached a meet official after the race was over, according to TAPinto: "The issue is the coach waited until after the swim to get the DQ, deciding to put the burden of a 'loss' on a 16 year old, letting down all the seniors that won their last dual meet of their HS careers." The aforementioned tweet was apparently deleted.

The National Federation of State High School Associations Swimming and Diving indicates that "one American flag, not to exceed 2 inches by 3 inches, may be worn or occupy space on each item of uniform apparel. By state association adoption, to allow for special occasions, commemorative or memorial patches, not to exceed 4 square inches, may be worn on the uniform without compromising its integrity," the outlet added.

Parsippany Hills pushes back

According to TAPinto, Parsippany Hills in an email to the school community denied the coach meant to get the Morristown swimmer disqualified.

"Our coach never asked for any athletes or team to be disqualified. He approached the official with a question about the swim cap to confirm that PHHS swimmers could also wear the American flags on them in the future," the letter stated, according to the outlet.

"The official came back and stated that the logo on the Morristown swimmer's cap was too large and disqualified the Morristown relay team," the letter added, according to TAPinto.

The letter also said, "Our coach also offered to disqualify our relay team, but the official stated that he could not because there was no rule violation," the outlet noted.

TAPinto said it reached out to Morristown's athletic director and swim coach, but neither responded.

The Morristown swimming Instagram account indicated that the "boys unfortunately lost during the final relay due to some technical difficulties (everyone knows motown boys were the real winners)."

Here's what else Rob Miller had to say:

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