One of the things New England is known for is its great professional sports teams.
The Boston Red Sox have won the World Series nine times, the New England Patriots have won six Super Bowls (all in the 21st century), the Boston Celtics have won 17 National Basketball Association championships, and the Boston Bruins have won six Stanley Cups. The Patriots are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most Super Bowl wins, the Celtics have the most NBA titles, and no Major League Baseball team other than the Red Sox has won at least four World Series titles in the 21st century (2004, 2007, 2013, and 2018).
But do you know who else has done well athletically in New England in recent years?
Transgender athletes.
That’s particularly true of males who have competed in girls’ high school sports in the region.
Here are five examples of male transgender-identifying athletes excelling in girls’ high school sports in New England in recent years.
1. Chloe Barnes
Barnes is a state champ.
A junior at the time, Barnes helped the Brookline High indoor track and field team win a Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 1 state championship last season, earning a fourth-place finish in the 55-meter dash (8.72 seconds), as NewBostonPost previously reported.
Now a senior, Barnes is back on the team and exccelling. The runner came in first place in the opening Bay State Conference meet of the season. It happened on Thursday, December 14 at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury.
Barnes ran the 55-meter dash in 9.21 seconds, coming in first place out of 37 competitors in the event. Barnes bested the runner-up, Newton North senior Jadyn Grant (9.33 seconds), by 0.11 seconds.
Could Barnes help Brookline win another state title? We’ll see.
TB Daily News was the first news outlet to report on Barnes’s transgender identity.
2. Soren Stark-Chessa
A sophomore at Maine Coast Waldorf School (a small private school in Freeport, Maine), Stark-Chessa won the Southern Maine Class C Regional girls’ cross country meet on October 21, 2023, as NewBostonPost previously reported. Class C features the smallest schools of the three divisions in the Maine Principal’s Association in girls’ cross country.
Stark-Chessa finished the 5,000-meter course in 19:17.8; it was 1:22 faster than the runner-up, Grace Alexander (20:40.29) from Waynflete, a private school in Portland.
Additionally, Stark-Chessa finished third at the Class C state championship meet (18:23.56) on November 4, behind a senior and junior, indicating that the runner may one day win a state championship.
The runner competed on the boys’ side as a freshman.
3. Maelle Jacques
Like Stark-Chessa, Jacques is another potential future state champ.
Jacques, who attends Kearsarge Regional High School (North Sutton, New Hampshire), finished second (5:32.29) in the 1,600-meter run at the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 state championship meet in May 2023, as NewBostonPost previously reported.
The only runner who ran faster than Jacques on the girls’ side at that meet was teammate Molly Ellison (5:30.43), a junior at Kearsarge at the time.
Any runner who finishes in second place at states as a freshman is in a great position to win a state title, especially if the runner who beat that runner is two grades ahead of the runner in school.
4. Terry Miller
Miller won multiple track state championships in Connecticut.
The runner, who graduated from Bloomfield High in 2020, had a dominant career.
Miller earned 16 state titles in various events, including individual events and team relays, according to Athletic.net. Those Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference state titles also include both Class titles and all-state titles. Some seasons Miller won state titles in multiple events.
5. Andraya Yearwood
Like Terry Miller, Yearwood won multiple state titles in Connecticut.
The 2020 Cromwell High School graduate won the CIAC girls’ outdoor track Class M 100-meter dash state championship (12.66 seconds) in 2017, Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference girls’ indoor track Class S 55-meter dash state championship (7.31 seconds) in 2018, and was a part of a Class S state championship-winning girls’ indoor track 1600-meter relay team (4:20.13) in 2019, according to Athletic.net.
Yearwood gained national attention after finishing second to Miller in the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference girls’ outdoor track all-state meet in 2018.
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