Maine trans athlete battle: girls’ track meet dominance ignites controversy

A girls’ track meet in Maine became the subject of widespread controversy after a trans athlete dominated multiple running events. The incident took place as the state faces internal and federal pressure to keep trans athletes out of girls’ sports, and a lawsuit over the issue from President Donald Trump’s administration.

A trans-identifying athlete who competed for North Yarmouth Academy in Yarmouth, Maine, won the girls’ 800-meter and 1600-meter events. In October 2023, Fox News Digital reported that this athlete was transgender. Fox News Digital has reached out to North Yarmouth Academy for comment. 

The athlete has been making national headlines in Maine dating back to that month after jumping to 4th place in the 5k division in the girls’ category after previously finishing 172nd among boys. The athlete again made national headlines for competing in Nordic skiing and taking a podium spot in Maine’s High School State Nordic Skiing Championships this past February. 

On Friday at the POLAND-NYA-YARMOUTH-SEACOAST meet, the athlete won the 1600-meter with a time of 5:57.27, blowing away the second-place runner who finished with a time of 6:16.32. In the 800m, the trans athlete etched out a closer first-place finish with a time of 2:43.31, just around a second better than the second-place finisher with a time of 2:44.87. 

Local high school sports photographer David Young, owner of Maine Running Photography, was there to shoot the meet.

“He blew away all the girls in that particular race [the 1600m], there wasn’t anybody near him, easily won it.” Young told Fox News Digital. “In the 800m, it was a one-second difference, the girl tried very hard to catch him.” 

Young added that there had been multiple spectators at the meet to cheer the trans athlete on, but no audible protests. 

“There were a few people there who yelled out his name, he’s pretty well known,” Young said. 

Young said his 2023 photos of the athlete went so viral on Facebook, and prompted so much backlash, that he ended up removing those photos because of the overwhelming response.

“It was getting too nasty,” Young said. 

“Not only was I getting it from the people who were for transgenders, I was getting it from people who were anti-transgenders. And I didn’t know what to do, and somebody finally said, ‘Well, if you just remove the photo, the debate will go away.’ So, I removed the photo, and the debate went away.” 

However, Young said he plans to post his most recent photos of the athlete on his Facebook page anyway, even after what happened last time. 

Many of Young’s past photos of the athlete have gone viral on social media in the aftermath of the athlete’s latest victory. Maine residents, politicians and even national pundits have posted media including the athlete and prompted national debate and awareness for the meet as Maine faces an ongoing internal and federal conflict over the issue. 

“Today a biological male won the 800 & 1600 in the girls division at a Maine track meet. Every girl who placed 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and further in those races was pushed aside so a boy could ‘win.’ This is NOT fair. Our girls deserve a fair, safe, and level playing field,” State representative Laurel Libby wrote on X.

Libby previously made a Facebook post that identified a different trans athlete who won a girls’ pole-vaulting competition. Libby was censured for the post by the legislature’s Democrat majority and is currently involved in a lawsuit over the issue. 

California conservative activist Beth Bourne drew widespread national attention to the issue by posting footage of the competition on X. 

The women’s activist athletics wear brand XX-XY Athletics even turned footage of the competition into an ad. 

One of the Maine female athletes who had to compete against the trans athlete in Nordic skiing previously told Fox News Digital about the sense of defeat that came with losing to the athlete.

MAINE GIRL INVOLVED IN TRANS ATHLETE BATTLE REVEALS HOW STATE’S POLICIES HURT HER CHILDHOOD AND SPORTS CAREER

“The defeat that comes with that in that moment is heartbreaking,” Carlisle said. “I’m just in shock in a way. I didn’t believe it. . . . I didn’t think it was happening to me.”

The U.S. Department of Justice announced a lawsuit against the state of Maine for its continued defiance of Trump’s executive order to keep biological males out of girls and women’s sports and alleged violations of Title IX. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the lawsuit at a press conference April 16.

Bondi said she was seeking an injunction and to have titles returned to the girls who “rightfully” won competitions in which trans athletes participated.

The Department of Justice accused the state of “openly and defiantly flouting federal anti-discrimination law by enforcing policies that require girls to compete against boys in athletic competitions designated exclusively for girls,” according to a complaint obtained by Fox News.

Meanwhile, Governor Janet Mills, the Maine Department of Education and the Maine Principal’s Association has held firmly in support of continuing to enable trans inclusion in girls’ sports across the state, citing the Maine Human Rights Act as the precedent for determining gender eligibility. 

“I’m happy to go to court and litigate the issues that are being raised in this court complaint,” Mills told reporters in April.

A survey by the American Parents Coalition found that out of about 600 registered Maine voters, 63% said that school sports participation should be based on biological sex, and 66% agreed it is “only fair to restrict women’s sports to biological women.”

The poll also found that 60% of residents would support a ballot measure limiting participation in women’s and girls’ sports to biological females. This included 64% of independents and 66% of parents with kids under age 18.

Follow Fox News Digital’s sports coverage on X, and subscribe to the Fox News Sports Huddle newsletter.