I’m a runner and I know the race to save women’s sports has started off great

I’m a runner — and runners know the value of a good start. 
 
Lots of races are decided by those first steps out of the blocks — and whether they’re fast enough and strong enough to propel you toward that line at the far end of the track. 
 
In January, federal officials took the first four steps in the race to reverse Biden administration efforts to insert male athletes into women’s sports. 

TITLE IX COMPLAINT FILED AGAINST RIT FOR ROSTERING TRANS ATHLETE SADIE SCHREINER
 
Step One: On Jan. 9, a federal district court issued a decision vacating the 2024 Title IX Rule. That rule had directed all states to reinterpret the meaning of "sex" in Title IX — a federal law created to ensure equal opportunities for women in education and athletics — to include "gender identity." 

Chelsea Mitchell is a runner and a college senior fighting to save women's sports. 

Step Two: On Jan. 14, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would prevent schools accepting federal funding from allowing male athletes to compete in women’s sports ... or ris losing that funding. 
 
Step Three: On Jan. 31, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights announced it now expects schools to stick with the earlier 2020 Title IX Rule, which honors the original intent of that law by defining sex according to biology, not gender identity. 
 
Step Four: On Feb. 5, the Trump administration took a strong and crucial step toward restoring women’s sports to women with his latest executive order directing federal officials to prohibit male athletes from competing in women’s sports or entering women’s locker rooms. 
 
And, the next day, the NCAA — finally — changed its policy on this and now only allows women to compete in women’s categories, another stride toward achieving fairness for female athletes. 

Why do I describe these efforts as a race? Because every day we delay in making this right means another competition, somewhere, where a girl or woman athlete could be losing to a man. Losing an award ... losing recognition ... losing an opportunity ... losing the fair return for all her hard work, time, and sacrifice. 
 
I know. I’m one of those women. Across four years of high school, I raced against male athletes 27 times. I lost places and podium spots on 22 occasions. I lost two major regional awards. I lost four state championship titles at an age when college recruiters were watching and deciding who would get scholarships. 
 
My teammates and I watched two male athletes sweep our events, season after season, winning 15 state championship titles once held by nine different women. Eighty-five times they blocked female runners from opportunities to advance in competition. 
 
Not only was that not fair — it hurt. My teammates and I had dedicated countless long hours to our sport. We kept to strict diets and missed out on a lot of family and social activities to get to bed early, all for the sake of competing, and winning, and earning scholarships to the schools we hoped to go to someday. 

Chelsea Mitchell complains that she raced against male athletes 27 times and lost places and podium spots on 22 occasions. (ADF)

It’s tough, stepping up time after time to the starting line, knowing that, no matter how hard you try, you’re going to lose to the guy in the lane next to you. And that, each time you lose, your dreams drift a little further out of reach. 
 
It’s no wonder that we pushed back, speaking up and speaking out for what was right and fair. Yet every time we did, we were branded as bigots and haters. Coaches, administrators and many in the media turned a deaf ear to our concerns. 
 
That’s why four of us, with the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, decided to file suit against the Connecticut Association of Schools, for refusing to protect us from these intrusions by male athletes. That case was recently given the green light to be heard in federal court. 

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But in a strong race, you have to keep making great strides. And those strides are being made. 

Why do I describe these efforts as a race? Because every day we delay in making this right means another competition, somewhere, where a girl or woman athlete could be losing to a man. 

With the help of courageous high-profile athletes like Riley Gaines, the media are gradually waking up and realizing the great injustices being done to women — the threats being posed not only to our freedom and opportunities, but our safety as well. And now two other cases in which ADF is defending Title IX’s original meaning from lawsuits by activist groups are making their way, I hope, toward the U.S. Supreme Court. 
 
We’re moving fast in the right direction, and with the aggressive support of the Trump administration, my fellow athletes and I are more confident than we’ve been in a long time that women’s sports may soon, once again, be reserved for — and restored to — women. 

If the U.S. Senate will follow the House’s lead ... if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear and decide the true meaning of "sex" in Title IX ... if President Donald Trump can effectively use his bully pulpit to rally wide support to our cause ... and if the NCAA will expand its policy to more fully protect female athletes during and outside of competitions, and other sports organizations will do the same ... 

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... this race may be headed for a victorious finish. And that’s good. 
 
First steps are important, but in the long run — it’s the finish that matters most of all. 

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Chelsea Mitchell is a senior in college represented by Alliance Defending Freedom (@ADFLegal).