Former trans NCAA athlete slams Education Department's efforts to return women's sports records broken by men
A former NCAA track runner and transgender-identifying athlete recently criticized efforts to restore records that belonged to women before being recently broken by men.
In 2019, CeCe Telfer was the first male to secure an NCAA title in women’s sports by winning the Division II 400-meter hurdles while representing Franklin Pierce University.
A former NCAA track runner and transgender-identifying athlete recently criticized efforts to restore records that belonged to women before being recently broken by men.
CeCe Telfer, formerly known as Craig, appeared on CNN on Feb. 18 and was asked a question about the Department of Education’s memo to the NCAA that titles won by men in women’s sports should be removed.
“I wonder how you react when you read that the Department of Education has written a letter to the NCAA suggesting that transgender women who have won titles and set records, they should be stripped,” the CNN host asked.
“If somebody’s truly working or a part of the Department of Education,” Telfer responded, “they would be smart and educated enough to know that something like that ... is not how history works, and that’s not how the direction of progressiveness works.”
“And you can’t take back history,” Telfer concluded.
CeCe Telfer — the first man to cheat his way to a women’s NCAA title in 2019 — explains he can’t be stripped of his title because “that’s not how the direction of progressiveness works.”
Women beg to differ. You came for our sports & our spaces and we are fighting back hard. pic.twitter.com/wcDGqwqZl8— WomenAreReal (@WomenAreReals) February 18, 2025
In 2019, Telfer was the first male to secure an NCAA title in women’s sports by winning the Division II 400-meter hurdles while representing Franklin Pierce University.
Following the interview, Telfer was critiqued online for his defense of men playing in women’s sports.
“Absurd CNN interview just now with trans sprinter CeCe Telfer, treating her like some poor victim of Trump’s ban on trans athletes in women’s sport,” former CNN host Piers Morgan wrote on X.
Last year, Telfer promised during an interview to compete again in women’s sports and take “all the records.”
“I look forward to indoor track, because 2024 indoors is going to be epic,” Telfer stated. “My dreams were taken away from me once again. So I plan on going back to New England, hitting up all the indoor competitions, and taking all the names, all the records, and everything.”
Earlier this month, President Trump signed an executive order entitled, “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” which was lauded by women’s sports advocates, including Riley Gaines.
“This executive order is such a win, and it is a win for the young girls, not just the NCAA champions, but for the middle-school athletes, for the benchwarmers, for the girls who are just breaking into the bottom of the roster,” said activist and former college swimmer Paula Scanlan.
Campus Reform has contacted Franklin Pierce University for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
