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Meghan Cortez-Fields set a program record in winning the 100-yard butterfly [57.22] at the Cougar Splash, which was hosted by Misericordia University in Dallas on Saturday. She also took second in the 200-IM [2:12.05].
Yet, not all are celebrating.
Cortez-Fields’ victory drew criticism from some women’s rights activists, who took exception to her swimming with the women’s team as a senior after competing for the Ramapo men’s team as a freshman, sophomore and junior.
The Ramapo Swim Team allegedly made a congratulatory post for Cortez-Fields on Instagram, but removed it after former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines posted about it on X.
Gaines, a former University of Kentucky swimmer, made headlines after speaking out about Lia Thomas' 2022 NCAA Championship win. She is a self-proclaimed advocate for women's sports.
“Ramapo College swimmer in NJ goes from less than mediocre male swimmer to a record smasher competing against the women,” Gaines said on Sunday, Nov. 19. “Hm, where has we seen this before? #SaveWomensSports."
Ramapo released the following statement to Daily Voice:
"Ramapo College 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 College continues to post team and individual student-athlete achievements for all programs on our Athletics website. As an affiliate of the NCAA, Ramapo College Athletics follows all NCAA policies, including the NCAA Transgender Student-Athlete Participation Policy. "
In an interview with Ramapo's student newspaper, The Ramapo News, Cortez-Fields said UPenn swimmer and NCAA Championship winner Lia Thomas has been an inspiration to her.
The student newspaper said Cortez-Fields was "in the middle of their transition" when the article ran in October 2022.
Click here for results from the Saturday, Nov. 18 competition.
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