At the state championships on February 12, 17-year-old Lilly Serrano of Chelease High School placed third in the 55-meter dash and seventh in the 300-meter race.
A trans-identified male took multiple podium spots at Massachusetts’ recent Division 3 high school track and field indoor championships. This comes after the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association (MIAA) for violations of federal civil rights law.
At the state championships on February 12, 17-year-old Lilly Serrano of Chelease High School placed third in the 55-meter dash and seventh in the 300-meter race, earning a spot on the podium and a medal for both finishes. The Chelsea Record, a town newspaper, wrote that “Serrano’s performance accounted for all eight of Chelsea’s points at the meet.”
This comes after Serrano, who has competed in girls’ track since at least 2024, per Reduxx, finished in first place in the high jump and second place in the 55-meter dash and 300-meter dash. Serrano scored 26 points at the Greater Boston League Championship, “the highest total of any boy or girl at the meet,” per the Chelsea Record.
On February 6, the Department of Education announced that the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association, along with other schools, was under investigation for apparent Title IX violations regarding athletic participation policies surrounding transgender students. The MIAA handbook states that a “student shall not be excluded from participation on a gender-specific sports team that is consistent with the student’s bona fide gender identity.”
HeCheated, which tracks male participation in women’s sports, told Reduxx, “We have about 83 state titles on record stolen [from girls] by boys so far and 32 of those are from Massachusetts.” A representative for the group added, “Girls’ sports have never truly existed in Massachusetts.”
A spokesperson for the Independent Council on Women’s Sports said, “The MIAA has repeatedly inflicted egregious harm on female athletes by undermining the integrity of girls competition and disregarding federal protections guaranteed under Title IX. For these female track athletes, a state championship is a once in a lifetime culmination of years of sacrifice, training, and pursuit of excellence. That experience was irreparably damaged when a male athlete was allowed to compete in girls’ races and was celebrated atop girls’ podiums.”
