The College Fix

UPDATED

A biological male swimmer at Ramapo College of New Jersey who now identifies as female and switched to the women’s team to compete has broken a school record.

After competing for the men’s team for three years, “Meghan Cortez-Fields won first place and broke a [women’s] school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.22 … She also came in first place in the 200-yard individual medley and earned second place in the 200-yard butterfly,” Fox News reported.

A social media post congratulating the swimmer was deleted by the college, however.

“The original post of Meghan’s achievement was deleted by a peer who wanted to protect their teammate from insulting comments on the post,” a spokesperson told Fox News. “The College continues to post team and individual student-athlete achievements for all programs on our Athletics website.”

The record-setting swim drew the attention of female rights advocate Riley Gaines, who posted on X: “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.”

How can you see this tattoo on his arm and not think this is a hyper-fetishized & sexualized movement?

As a Christian, I believe we are all made in the image of God, and this is a mockery of that. pic.twitter.com/V712XfnFlX

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) November 19, 2023

Gaines also pointed out a tattoo on the swimmer’s arm that appears to depict a woman with testicles, stating on X: “How can you see this tattoo on his arm and not think this is a hyper-fetishized & sexualized movement? As a Christian, I believe we are all made in the image of God, and this is a mockery of that.”

The Post Millennial reported that Cortez-Fields has identified as female since at least 2022, and that the trans swimmer “was allowed to use the general women’s locker room, but not the women’s team locker room.”

In a 2022 interview with the Ramapo News student newspaper, Cortez-Fields said that “I think the threat to women’s sport has probably been overstated,” adding “trans women are women.”

Editor’s note: After publication, college spokesperson Brittany Williams-Goldstein provided a comment to The College Fix on the matter. It is republished below in its entirety:

Ramapo College supports all of our student athletes. As an affiliate member of the NCAA, Ramapo College Athletics follows all NCAA policies, including the NCAA Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy.

The College recognizes that the deletion of a social media post can cause speculation. The peer’s decision-making in removing the original post that commended Meghan, however, was centered around empathy and compassion for a fellow member of the College community, and has the College’s full support. The College posts team and individual student-athlete achievements for all programs on our Athletics website.

The College has been checking in on Meghan and her teammates to ensure that they have the resources and supports they need to manage the attention and cope with the public vitriol. We would be remiss to not reiterate that there is a person, a team, a community, and broad public policy coursing through the heart of this story.

MORE: Riley Gaines: Penn State canceled my ‘Real Women’s Day’ speech — I’m going anyway, with a megaphone

IMAGE: social media screenshots

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