Male Cross Country Runner Suddenly Among The Best In Maine After Switching To Female Division
The 22nd edition of the Maine Cross Country Festival of Champions will take place over the weekend and one competitor, Soren Stark-Chessa, is creating quite the buzz. Well, at least among those who recognize the existence of biology and are brave enough to discuss it.
According to Shawn McBreairty of YourNews, Stark-Chessa, a biological male, ran in the boy's division as a freshman a year ago for Coast Waldorf School in Freeport, ME. In the boy's division, he ranked 172nd in the 5k. As a sophomore, now running in the girl's division, Stark-Chessa is all of a sudden ranked fourth and dominating competition.
Stark-Chessa's best finish in a cross country meet as a freshman was 14th, twice. But has finished runner-up and first in two races competing against high school girls. Stark-Chessa's win came in Freeport with a time of 18:55, which was 1:42 faster than the second-place finisher.
“It is not fair to a female who has trained hard. Males are biologically faster than females, with testosterone. They need to run under their biological gender," an anonymous female cross country runner in Maine told YourNews.
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A Maine high school track mom spoke out as well.
“Men are simply larger, faster, and stronger than their female counterparts. To compare, the top-ranked female high school runner in all of New England would only be ranked #47th among high school boys in Maine," she explained. "This boy, Soren Stark-Chessa, ranks #172 among Maine boys, but #4 among Maine girls.”
As for this weekend's Festival of Champions race, it is reportedly tabbed as Maine's biggest cross country race. Stark-Chessa will be running among the girls. Stark-Chessa finished 51st in the boy's division a year ago, but is guaranteed to improve mightily on that finish as a biological male competing against biological females this time around.
Ironically, the 'Gender Equity and Inclusion Policy' in the Maine Principals Association Handbook states athletes "should have the opportunity to participate in MPA activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, unless such participation would result in an unfair athletic advantage."
Stark-Chessa, a male, going from a no-name runner to one of the top-ranked cross country athletes in the girl's division quite literally defines "an unfair athletic advantage," but nobody is willing to admit it.