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In 2019, when I was a sophomore at East Texas A&M University, I was assigned second place in the finals of the NCAA Division II Women’s 400-meter hurdles. The video from that event shows me racing in lane 8. In lane 4 is CeCé Telfer of Franklin Pierce University—who competed for that school’s men’s team in 2016 and 2017. Craig Telfer ranked 390th among NCAA Division II men. CeCé Telfer destroyed the women’s field and crossed the finish line almost two seconds before me, becoming the first known transgender-identified athlete to win an NCAA title.

That made me the first collegiate woman to be told her victory was worth less than a man’s feelings. I cried a lot that day—not because I lost, but because of how I lost. I also knew I wasn’t the only victim. Every time a male athlete enters a female competition, a woman gets cut from the roster to make room.

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