Transgender boy moves within 1 win of girls Texas title

Mack Beggs, left, a transgender wrestler from Euless Trinity High School, stands with his coach Travis Clark during a quarterfinal match against Mya Engert, of Amarillo Tascosa, during the State Wrestling Tournament, Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, in Cypress, Texas. Beggs was born a girl and is transitioning to male but wrestles in the girls division. ( Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP) Mack Beggs, left, a transgender wrestler from Euless Trinity High School, stands with his coach Travis Clark during a quarterfinal match against Mya Engert, of Amarillo Tascosa, during the State Wrestling Tournament, Friday, Feb. 24, 2017, in Cypress, Texas. Beggs was born a girl and is transitioning to male but wrestles in the girls division. ( Melissa Phillip/Houston Chronicle via AP)

By Associated Press February 25, 2017 1 min read

CYPRESS, Texas (AP) – A 17-year-old transgender boy has moved within one match of winning a Texas state girls wrestling title.

Mack Beggs pinned Kailyn Clay to improve to 55-0, putting him in Saturday afternoon’s championship match.

Beggs is a junior from Euless Trinity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. His family has said he would rather be wrestling boys. Some girls and their advocates agree.

They say the testosterone Beggs has been taking while transitioning from female to male has made him too strong to wrestle fairly against girls. But state policy calls for students to wrestle against the gender listed on their birth certificates.

So Beggs beat Taylor Latham and Mya Engert handily on Friday before his victory over Clay that put him in the finals.