Trans High School Track and Field Favorites Not a Factor in Maine State Finals

Maine was expected to join the growing list of blue states where male athletes identifying as transgender competitors won state championships over female competitors in the 2025 high school outdoor track and field finals—but that didn’t happen on June 10.

Pole vaulter Katie Spencer, a sophomore from Greely High School, was the top seed with a season-high 11-foot jump in June, but MileSplit, which provides official results for schools, reported that he did not participate.

Spencer competed as a boy in 2024, finishing 10th in the state finals, but won the girls Class B pole vault title in the indoor state event in February. The controversy surrounding the event sparked a fierce debate between President Donald Trump and Maine officials who have required schools to allow transgender-identifying males to compete in girls’ sports.

In addition, a Republican Maine assemblywoman opposed to transgender participation who posted about Spencer’s February championship on her website, recently won a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing her to resume her state house floor privileges after Democratic leadership there censured her.

A male runner, junior Soren Stark-Chessa, competed in the girls’ 1,600-meter event on June 10 but did not reach the podium, finishing 11th out of 22. Last year, he won the 800-meter event in the girls’ state finals, according to MileSplit. Still, on June 10 he was part of the team that took fourth place in the 4-by-800-meter relay, according to MileSplit.

Transgender-identifying competitors won girls state track and field championships in California and Washington state this season, while a transgender-identifying high jumper from Oregon took fifth place.

School districts across Maine face losing millions of dollars in federal funding. It’s unclear how the June 10 results will factor into that situation.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order this year prohibiting males from competing in female sports, noting that under the existing Title IX law he has the right to withhold federal funding for noncompliance. The NCAA promptly complied and banned biological males from competing against women at the collegiate level.

Maine’s state laws direct school districts to allow boys who identify as transgender to compete as girls. The state’s attorney general informed President Trump that he would not enforce the executive order, so the president referred the matter to the Department of Justice and the two sides are now engaged in a legal battle.

In May, Republican legislators in Maine introduced a series of bills that include prohibiting biological males from competing in girls’ sports or using their bathrooms, locker rooms, and showers at school. There is also a bill calling for a coed division in varsity scholastic sports where transgender-identifying athletes could compete.

Dozens of people on both sides of the issue commented on the bills during a May 8 public hearing, with female student athletes, parents, and health care professionals speaking for the legislation, while the pro-trans group included students, teachers and school counselors, parents, and clergy members.

Supporters of the bills noted that Maine’s governing body for high school sports has not responded to complaints about girls’ safety or fairness when competing against boys who suddenly change their gender identity, and they also said there are no requirements regarding puberty blockers or female hormones that would help level the playing field. Opponents did not attempt to refute the biological advantages of male athletes, but said the legislation would further marginalize transgender-identifying youth, an already vulnerable population.

Attorneys from the Alliance Defending Freedom organization noted that 26 states have passed laws keeping biological males out of girls’ sports.

Stark-Chessa also testified at the hearing. He said he grew up wanting to become a great athlete like his older brother, but by the time he was in high school he knew he was “different.”

Despite having a good experience competing as a boy and making friends with teammates of both sexes, he said, “the issue holding me back was that I wasn’t existing openly.”

Carlin Buck, a student athlete from Presque Isle High School, provided a contrary viewpoint to Maine lawmakers.

“It’s not about losing a race or match; it’s about losing hope,” she said. “When the playing field isn’t equal, it sends a message to girls: No matter how hard they try, the outcome may already be decided.”

In an interview with The Epoch Times, Allen Cornwall, a Maine pole vaulting coach for boys’ and girls’ teams and a former Class B event official, said the biological differences regarding strength, lung capacity, and body types are especially stark in pole vaulting.

Proportionately, he said, females carry much of their weight below the waist and have a far greater burden in pulling their lower body over the pole vault bar. Males, by contrast, carry more weight in their upper body and have an easier time gaining momentum and propelling their torso and legs to greater heights.

He said teenage girls are also more susceptible to sudden weight gain and are at greater risk of struggling with confidence.

“They are a different human being,” Cornwall said. “Even when you take the fittest of the fittest women, they still jump four feet less than the best men.”

“I see the look on the girls’ faces when they have to do this. They look on the verge of tears. There’s a psychological impact and they feel disenfranchised.”