Transgender New Hampshire Freshman Finishes Second In Girls’ Track State Championship Meet

By Tom Joyce | June 13, 2023, 18:32 EDT

A biological male track runner who identifies as a girl had a strong performance at the girls’ outdoor track and field state championship meet in New Hampshire last month.

Maelle Jacques, a freshman at Kearsarge Regional High School in Sutton, New Hampshire, finished in second place in one event and fifth in another at the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 championship meet on May 24, as several right-of-center news outlets have reported, including TB Daily News, Breitbart, Daily Wire, MSN, and The Washington Times, among others.

Jacques finished second in the 1600-meter run (5:32.39) and fifth in the high jump (4 feet, 10 inches). In the 1600-meter, the only runner faster than Jacques was teammate Molly Ellison, who is a junior at Kearsarge (5:30.43).

Track meets are scored using a point system based on how high competitors finish.

Jacques’s second-place finish in the 1600-meter got Kearsarge eight points, while Jacques’s fifth-place finish in the high jump added two more. Jacques contributed 10 points to the Kearsarge track team, which finished second overall with 75 points. Newfound Regional High (of Bristol, New Hampshire) won the Division 3 state title with 86 points, beating Kearsarge by 11 points, according to The Concord Monitor.

Track is not the only sport in which Jacques competes. The freshman also is a soccer goalie and plans to play on the school’s girls soccer team, according to TB Daily News.

NewBostonPost contacted Kearsarge Regional School District for comment. Winfried Feneberg, the district’s superintendent of schools, defended allowing Jacques to to compete on the girls’ sports teams, in a written statement:

 

Kearsarge supports all students and student-athletes regardless of their gender identity. Each student-athlete has the right to compete in the activity of their choice.

The New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association’s stance on this issue is clear:  Denying that opportunity is a violation of equal rights afforded under state and federal law.

Further, we believe that limiting access to any activity violates our core mission and vision, which are grounded in supporting every student and student-athlete’s right to pursue their goals and interests. As a school community – parents and guardians, faculty, staff, and peers – we celebrate student success and personal growth on and off the field. We firmly believe in guiding each student to become caring, compassionate people who contribute positively to the world and those around them.

We are thankful that our student-athletes have been welcomed throughout the season by competing teams and their coaches, in the true spirit of athletic competition. And we remain grateful to the Kearsarge community for its steadfast commitment to equity and inclusion.

As a school community – parents and guardians, faculty, staff, and peers – we celebrate student success and personal growth on and off the field.

 

The organization that governs interscholastic sports in New Hampshire  allows athletes to compete based on their self-selected gender identity.

Here is the organization’s transgender athlete policy, according to its web site:

 

The NHIAA is committed to providing transgender student-athletes with equal opportunities to participate in NHIAA athletic programs consistent with their gender identity. Hence, this policy addresses eligibility determinations for students who have a gender identity that is different from the gender listed on their official birth certificates.

The NHIAA has concluded that it would be fundamentally unjust and contrary to applicable State and Federal Law to preclude a student from participation on a gender specific sports team that is consistent with the public gender identity of that student for all other purposes.

 

Kearsarge Regional High School, the public school in Sutton that Jacques attends, has about 520 students. It serves the towns of Bradford, Newbury, New London, Springfield, Sutton, Warner, and Wilmot. Sutton is a small New Hampshire town with about 2,000 residents located about 25 miles northwest of Concord, New Hampshire, the state’s capital.

 

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