Maelle Jacques running in the 1600-meter in the Wilderness League championship meet on May 18, 2024. Screenshot of NH Track & Field livestream.
A male competing on the girls’ side of the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 3 outdoor track and field state championship meet could win yet another state title this week.
Kearsarge Regional High School sophomore Maelle Jacques, a biological male who identifies as a transgender girl, is scheduled to compete in the NHIAA Division 3 state title meet on Thursday, May 23 at Winnisquam Regional High School in Tilton, New Hampshire.
Jacques won the NHIAA Division 2 girls’ indoor track and field state championship in the high jump (5 feet, 2 inches) this past winter, as NewBostonPost previously reported. Two other Division 3 NHIAA athletes have also cleared that same height with their career-best jumps: Somersworth High girls Sya McKay and Savanna Comeau, a junior and sophomore, respectively. Additionally, Winnisquam senior Skye Tibbetts has a career-best jump one inch shorter than the competitors as mentioned earlier, making her one of the top competitors in the division.
Since these four athletes, including Jacques, are all capable of clearing about the same heights, the male athlete could win again this week.
If the athletes all have the same height for their best jump, the winner is determined by who took the fewest attempts to get the jump. After that, it would come down to how many attempts it took to clear the bar on previous jumps. Athletes have three attempts to clear the bar at any given height in the high jump event.
For example, both Jacques and Comeau had the same best jump in the NHIAA Division 2 state championship meet this past February (5 feet, 2 inches). However, it took Jacques just one attempt to clear the five-foot bar, whereas it took Comeau three attempts to do the same — so Jacques won, as The Union Leader explained.
In the spring 2023 outdoor track season, Jacques finished second in the 1600-meter run (5:32.39) and fifth in the high jump (4 feet, 10 inches) at the NHIAA Division 3 outdoor meet.
Kearsarge Regional School District superintendent Winfried Feneberg defended allowing Jacques to compete on the girls’ sports teams, in a written statement emailed to NewBostonPost during the late spring of 2023:
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.
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 town of about 2,000 about 25 miles northwest of Concord, New Hampshire, the state’s capital.
Feneberg and Jacques could not be reached for comment on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday.
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Maelle Jacques running in the 1600-meter in the Wilderness League championship meet on May 18, 2024. Screenshot of NH Track & Field livestream. 
