No-show trans runners shouldn’t have been allowed to compete anyway

Two transgender teen runners who backed out of a California race after facing fierce backlash shouldn’t have been able to compete as women in the first place, says a track star suing to block trans athletes from high-school sports.

The trans runners, Athena Ryan, and Lorelei Barrett, made headlines after dropping out of the California State Track and Field Championship preliminaries last week, citing concerns for their well-being given the ongoing controversy.

Star runner Chelsea Mitchell, who filed a federal lawsuit in her home state of Connecticut for forcing her to compete against biological males, weighed in on the saga Monday, telling Fox News that the Golden State’s rules should never have allowed the two runners to race in the female category anyway.

Mitchell — once dubbed the “fastest girl in Connecticut” — said the students’ schools did them a disservice by even allowing them to qualify for the race because it opened them up to public scrutiny by people such as herself, who argue such trans athletes have an “unfair” biological advantage.

“At the end of the day, it is unfair these biological males are entering the female category, and [that’s] why our institutions need to step up and put policies in place that protect the female category,” Mitchell said.

The runner, who has been outspoken in the trans sports debate, was a top-ranked high-school track star when she and two others filed a lawsuit in 2020 that sought to ban trans athletes from participating in girls’ sports.

The lawsuit, filed by the conservative nonprofit group Alliance Defending Freedom, claimed that the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference’s policy was allowing “biological boys” to beat them at track events and deprive them of possible college scholarships.

Mitchell, who is now in college, is gearing up to appeal her case after a judge dismissed it on procedural grounds because the two trans students referenced in the lawsuit had graduated from high school.

Her lawyer, Matt Sharp, argued Mitchell is fighting to preserve fairness in sports.

“That’s the problem with these policies, whether it’s California or the Connecticut policies that Chelsea and other athletes are challenging,” he said in the Fox interview.

“When you open female sports being taken over by males, you’re going to create problems, most importantly for the female athletes involved who are going to have their records lost.

“That’s why we’re advocating for states to do the right thing, to adopt good policies that preserve fairness in sports to give everybody a place to play but not at the expense of the female athletes like Chelsea and others.”

In California, the saga boiled over when Ryan and Barrett qualified for the girls’ state 1,600-meter run after their respective sectional meets.

Ryan, a junior who finished in second place, made headlines after a runner who placed fourth was seen on video waving to the crowd before appearing to give a thumbs-down — a gesture the school said was taken entirely out of context.

After Ryan and Barrett were no-shows for the state race, the governing California Interscholastic Federation issued a statement saying it was disappointed the trans students felt the need to back out.

“The CIF is disappointed for two of our student-athletes and their families because due to the actions of others, they found it necessary to withdraw from the State Track and Field Championships out of concern for the student’s well being,” the statement said.

The CIF added that the organization “strongly denounces discriminatory or harassing behaviors.”