mobanmarketTwo male runners are continuing to dominate high school girls’ track in Connecticut.
High school juniors Terry Miller and Andraya Yearwood took first and second place in the state open indoor track championships on Feb. 16, the Associated Press noted in a report on Sunday. Both Miller and Yearwood are biological males who identify as transgender girls.
One of their competitors, high school junior Selina Soule, told the AP that it was unfair to force female runners to compete against male runners.
“We all know the outcome of the race before it even starts; it’s demoralizing,” said Soule. “I fully support and am happy for these athletes for being true to themselves. They should have the right to express themselves in school, but athletics have always had extra rules to keep the competition fair.”
Miller is currently the third-fastest runner in the country in the girls’ 55-meter dash. Yearwood is close behind, tied for seventh nationally.
Miller and Yearwood’s success is just the latest instance of male athletes, who identify as transgender, excelling in women’s sports.
Miller and Yearwood easily outpaced female runners in the state last year as well, when both were sophomores.
A sympathetic segment on ABC’s “Good Morning America” in June 2018 described the two runners as “dominating the competition” at the outdoor state championships earlier that month.
In that interview, Miller argued that female runners should work harder – rather than complaining about unfairness – when forced to compete against male athletes who identify as transgender.
Yearwood acknowledged being stronger than female runners to the AP, but compared it to advantages that other athletes might have from perfecting their form or doing extra training sessions.
“One high jumper could be taller and have longer legs than another, but the other could have perfect form, and then do better,” Yearwood told the AP. “One sprinter could have parents who spend so much money on personal training for their child, which in turn, would cause that child to run faster.”