A young man who swam competitively for three years in college as a man, then underwent transgender treatments and switched to the women’s team, has set a new record for New Jersey’s Ramapo College.
The man, who is now a senior going by the name Meghan Cortez-Fields, took first place and broke the school record in the 100-yard butterfly at a meet that brought six colleges together for the Cougar Splash Invitational in Dallas, Pennsylvania.
Cortez-Fields also took first in the 200-yard individual medley and second in the 200-yard butterfly. He won at least one heat in three of the four women’s meets this year, according to Ramapo News.
Ramapo College’s Instagram account quickly posted a congratulatory note about his win, but then deleted the post after women’s athlete advocate Riley Gaines called out the college for discriminating against women.
“Ramapo College swimmer in NJ goes from less than mediocre male swimmer to a record smasher competing against the women. Hm, where have we seen this before? #SaveWomensSports,” Gaines wrote on social media.
Last year, transgender Lia Thomas smashed the NCAA freestyle, after having competed at a mediocre pace for three years as his biological gender for University of Pennsylvania, then switching to the women’s team and becoming the school’s champion swimmer, and most notorious trophy taker. He tied Gaines for fifth place, but the NCAA decided to give the fifth-place trophy to Thomas. Gaines has become a crusader for girls and women in athletics since that experience. She was in Anchorage last weekend to continue her public speaking tour and raise the issue of fairness for women competitive athletes.
