Mack Beggs, a transgender 17-year-old junior at Fort Worth Texas’ Euless Trinity, won the girls 110-pound championship at Saturday’s Class 6A Region II wrestling meet after his opponent forfeited the final.
Beggs is currently taking testosterone while transitioning from female to male, which she bang taking in October 2015.
According to SportsDay Dallas, the three-time state qualifier identifies as male but must compete against girls because of two UIL rules–which state that student-athletes must compete as the gender listed on their birth certificate and specifically prohibits boys from wrestling girls and vice versa. It should be noted that Beggs preferred to wrestle for the boys team, as he identifies as a boy, but the rules prohibited this.Beggs beat Chelsea Sanchez of Katy Morton Ranch High School in the 110-pound finals after defeating Kailyn Clay of Grand Prairie High School in the semis. He finished the season a perfect 57-0.
During his ascendence to state champion, many of Beggs’ opponents have forfeited their matches against him, claiming that the junior has an unfair advantage. Some student-athletes even filed lawsuits against Texas’ University Interscholastic League.
After defeating Chelsea Sanchez in the finals, cheers for Beggs were mixed in with a chorus of boos from fans who believe that Beggs was gaming the system.
— Polo Sandoval (@PoloSandovalCNN) February 26, 2017
After the match, Beggs deferred the praise to his teammates.
— Kristie Rieken (@kristieAP) February 26, 2017
[h/t Total Pro Sports]
