The transgender wrestler, who was once barred from wrestling on the Boys’ team, has now won two Girls’ State wrestling titles in a row.
Boos and cheers were waiting to greet Mack Beggs, an 18-year-old transgender boy, as he defeated Chelsea Sanchez to retain his title as Texas’ girls’ state wrestling champion.
In the previous years, the Euless Trinity High School student has tried, and failed, in his effort to get permission to wrestle against other boys.
For, as per the rules of the Texas’ University of Interscholastic League, athletes are allowed only to compete under the gender which is written on their birth certificates. Consequently, Beggs, who doesn’t have any other option but to compete against girls, is wrestling and winning.
Saturday was the second time that Mack was able to take the girls’ Class 6A, 110-pound division gold medal home.
In a video footage of the game posted on Twitter, both boos and cheers can be heard as the referee holds up Beggs’ hand to declare him the winner for the second year running.
“I’ve trained too hard for haters to put me down. I’ve worked too hard for that,” he told the Star-Telegram after his victory.
Last season, fearing that Beggs might injure them in a match, two women wrestlers chose not to fight against him in the tournament. This season, there was one girl who forfeited her match against Beggs, despite opposing pleas from her teammates and coach.
One thing, however, which was similar for Beggs this season around was his title match and the chorus that surrounded it. The moment he beat Sanchez to retain his title, Beggs had to endure a ruckus of boos from the crowd.
It was six years from now that Beggs began to identify as male, after which he started his medical treatment to complete his physical transition. According to the Associated Press, he is currently taking low-doses of transition to complete his transition.
Beggs told the Morning News that he is going to undergo a ‘’top surgery’’ very soon to complete his transition, with a ‘’bottom surgery’’ to be performed afterward.
