Chelsea Mitchell, regarded as the ‘fastest girl in Connecticut,” is suing the state for allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports. As a result of this policy, Mitchell lost to biological males in over 20 races throughout her high school career which negatively affected prospective college interest in the athlete.
While she isn’t a high school competitor any longer, Mitchell recognizes what is happening to the integrity of women’s sports so she’s teaming up with other Connecticut-based former high school track athletes to challenge the policy in court.
“I wanted to give voice to my story and help other girls out there so that they wouldn’t have to experience this,” Mitchell said, according to the New York Post.
The small group of former track runners have filed a lawsuit against the Connecticut Association of Schools and the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference. Their intention is to overturn the policy that permits athletes to participate based on their gender identity as opposed to their biological sex.
During her freshman year at Canton High School in 2016, Mitchel had to compete against a biological male in her first state-wide meet. She lost to the transgender runner, forfeiting a spot in qualifying to advance to the next round of the competition.
Again, during Mitchell’s sophomore year, she had to race against two biological males who regularly defeated every female runner.
“Just two athletes took so many opportunities away from biological females,” Mitchell said. “Even though there were only two of them, they took 15 state championships away from other girls–and there were 85 girls that were directly impacted from them being in the races.”
Mitchell is currently competing at the collegiate level as a senior but looks back on her college recruitment and realizes she lost out on higher ranked prospective schools since her competition records were altered by losses to biological males.
“When colleges looked at me, they didn’t see a winner. They saw a second or third place,” she said. “I wasn’t a first-place finisher, and I think that’s what really hurt me.”
Mitchell stated her argument in court this past December, however, a panel of the Second Circuit ruled against it. The argument will be heard again next week on June 6.
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