LAPLACE — Charging discrimination as the determining factor, the leadership of the Piranha Swim Team said the squad’s large number of black swimmers was the reason the River Parish Swim League voted them out.

In a release sent at 1:40 a.m. Wednesday and signed by head coach Haley Montz and assistant coach Blaine Tatje, Piranha Swim Team said it was removed from the league at a meeting among league representatives of all seven teams in a 4-3 vote Tuesday evening.

“Several of the teams in the league do not allow African Americans to be members, a practice as old as each of those clubs themselves,” Tatje said in the release. “Our team is comprised of 30 percent African American swimmers. We are the only team that has such diversity in our membership, as we do not discriminate in our membership.

“This has been an ongoing issue in which our team has specifically been targeted with for many years. We were almost voted out of the league in the 1990s when African American swimmers were members of our team at a meet against Hill Heights … Now, over a decade later, we find ourselves fighting a similar battle with the same team … Their distaste for our minority swimmers has never been a secret they tried to hide.”

Representatives from Piranha Swim Team, Riverlands and LARAYO — all St. John the Baptist Parish-based teams — voted against removing Piranha Swim Team from the league.

The vote took place among team representatives and not coaches.

Montz and Tatje said Piranha Swim Team is the only club that provides a space for minority swimmers in the community.

“We have the most affordable membership and we do not turn away athletes because of their skin color,” Montz said in the release. “Without PST, the minority swimmers of our area will have nowhere to compete, make lifelong friendships, develop important skills or be exposed to the unique experience of being part of a swim team. We want our local community to be aware of this because it is not about our bragging rights as a winning team, but about the social inequality that has now robbed our swimmers of what should be a healthy, enjoyable and rewarding experience.”

Messages left for River Parish Swim League President Kathy Braud were not immediately returned.

The man listed in league documents earlier this year as River Parish Swim League Secretary said as of Tuesday he was no longer in that position and had not comment.