A transgender woman on an NCAA Division III swim team broke a school record, causing controversy
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova made her stance on men playing in women’s sports clear on Tuesday amid another NCAA controversy occurring in Division III women’s swimming.
"Women’s sports is not the place for mediocre male athletes who compete as women. Period," she wrote on X.
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Martina Navratilova on Day 8 of GNP Seguros WTA Finals Cancun 2023, part of the Hologic WTA Tour, on Nov. 5, 2023, in Cancun, Quintana Roo, Mexico. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Meghan Cortez-Fields, a transgender swimmer at Ramapo College of New Jersey, broke a women’s school record over the weekend after competing on the men’s team for three years.
Cortez-Fields won first place and broke a school record in the 100-yard butterfly with a time of 57.22 at the Cougar Splash Invitational, a two-day meet between six schools in Dallas, Pennsylvania. She also came in first place in the 200-yard individual medley and earned second place in the 200-yard butterfly.
The Ramapo swim team congratulated Cortez-Fields on Instagram for breaking the school record but deleted the post after former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines drew attention to the meet results on X.
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Megan Cortez-Fields joined the women's team this season after swimming for Ramapo's men's team her first three years at the school. (Ramapoathletics.com)
A Ramapo spokesperson told Fox News the school "supports all of our student athletes."
"The original post of Meghan’s achievement was deleted by a peer who wanted to protect their teammate from insulting comments on the post," the spokesperson continued. "The College continues to post team and individual student-athlete achievements for all programs on our Athletics website."
"As a member affiliate of the NCAA, Ramapo College Athletics follows all NCAA policies, including the NCAA Transgender Student Participation Policy," the spokesperson added.
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Martina Navratilova, pictured here, and Leander Paes win a quarter-final mixed doubles match on Sept. 6, 2004 at the 2004 US Open in New York. (A. Messerschmidt/Getty Images)
Navratilova responded to the controversy on X.
"I will keep saying this over and over- this is wrong and completely fair and quite frankly a mockery," she wrote.
Cortez-Fields swam on Ramapo’s men's team for three years before moving to the women’s team this season as a senior. Last year, she told The Ramapo News she admired Lia Thomas, the trans University of Pennsylvania swimmer who won an NCAA Championship in 2022.
Fox News’ Teny Sahakian contributed to this report.
Ryan Gaydos is a senior editor for Fox News Digital.
