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Transgender wrestler will defend state title in Texas

HURST, Texas — A transgender wrestler from Texas will be competing in next week's Class 6A state girls championship tournament, WFAA reported.

On Saturday, Mack Beggs, 18, of Euless Trinity will compete for a 6A Region II tournament title, which will determine bracket seeding for the state tournament. The top four finishers in each weight class advance.

Last year, a parent filed a lawsuit to prevent Beggs from wrestling in the female division.

Beggs began transitioning from female to male a few years ago by using testosterone, which was the reason the lawsuit was filed, WFAA reported. But according to the Texas University Interscholastic League, it is not a banned substance since it comes from a physician.

While Beggs wants to compete as a boy and identifies with the male gender, a state law passed in 2016 says that athletes must compete as the gender listed on their birth certificates, WFAA reported.

The state wrestling tournament will be in Cypress next week. Beggs, whose birth name is Mackenzie, is 29-0 this season and hopes to defend the state title he won last year.

Beggs is considering a men's wrestling scholarship in college and is hoping to schedule a time for his "top surgery" by a doctor in Plano, The Dallas Morning News reported.

"I know it's going to happen," Beggs told the Morning News "But if I stress about it too much, then I'm going to stress about it, so I'm just going with the flow."