Soren Stark-Chessa is a teenage transgender athlete who recently secured a podium finish in a girls’ skiing competition at a Maine high school, find out more about her and her parents
Unsurprisingly, Soren Stark-Chessa’s recent podium finish has sparked all kinds of reactions and debates from across the country.
Soren Stark-Chessa, a biological male runner who identifies as a female at Maine Coast Waldorf High School in Freeport, went from the middle of the pack in boys’ races to winning the Fastest Sophomore Girl award at Maine’s largest high school cross-country race, in Belfast, Maine back in 2023.
Who is Maine transgender athlete and runner Soren Stark-Chessa, bio, age, parents, school, real gender and Instagam
🚩Maine: ANOTHER boy has taken girls’ high school state podium spots this time in Nordic skiing.
Soren Stark-Chessa placed 3rd & 4th in the state championships single-handedly earning enough points to secure Maine Coast Waldorf’s 3rd-place women’s team finish.
This comes the… pic.twitter.com/SCTITtrQnp
— ICONS (@icons_women) February 24, 2025
Soren’s achievement takes place in the same week that another trans-identifying athlete secured a Maine state title in girls’ pole vaulting.
Soren Stark-Chessa secures podium finish
This past week, Soren Stark-Chessa, a student of Maine Coast Waldorf School, secured two podium finishes at the High School State Nordic Skiing Championships. Soren won third place in the girls’ Class C Freestyle and a fourth place in the girls’ Class C Classical. The competition took place at Maine’s Black Mountain, and the performance helped Maine Coast Waldorf achieve third place overall.
Following the wins, Maine Coast Waldorf School’s athletic director, Susan Sonntag, came out to defend Stark-Chessa, stating:
We support all our students at Maine Coast Waldorf School and are proud that our students are given the opportunity to participate in all of our school programs.”
Soren Stark-Chessa bio
Soren Stark-Chessa. Maine Coast Waldorf Class of 2026 Freeport, ME
Soren Stark-Chessa is an accomplished multi-sport athlete who hails from Maine Coast Waldorf School. Stark-Chessa, although biologically male, identifies as a transgender girl and competes in the girls’ division of various sports like Nordic skiing, track and field, and cross-country. Soren is currently a junior in high school and is 17 years old.
The runner’s father, Dr. Frank Chessa, is the director of clinical ethics at Maine Medical Center in Portland, Maine’s largest city and the Maine Medical Center’s Gender Clinic provides puberty blockers, so-called gender-affirming hormone therapy, and surgical consultations to both children and adults.
Stark-Chessa’s mother, Susan Stark, is a professor of philosophy at Bates College who focuses on reparations for “institutionalized slavery, colonialism, and genocide,” as well as on “ongoing racist policies and white supremacy” and she also specializes in “reproductive ethics.”
As expected, Soren Stark-Chessa, the man that the @MPA_Sports allowed to run in the girls Maine class C state cross country championships finished third taking medals away from eight other deserving girls. #SaveWomensSports #WayToCheatBro#TransWomenAreConMen pic.twitter.com/fIjFtW8u2E
— Shawn McBreairty 🇺🇸 (@ShawnMcBreairty) November 4, 2023
Just last winter, Stark-Chessa got selected for the Western Maine Conference girls’ Nordic skiing all-conference team. Moreover, Stark-Chessa also won a state championship in track and field after winning an 800-meter race as a sophomore. The race was a part of the Maine Principals’ Association’s (MPA) Class C Girls’ Outdoor Track and Field State Championship. Interestingly, Soren competed in boys’ teams before transitioning to the girls’ division the previous year, as a freshman in 2022-23.
Maine High Schools go against Donald Trump’s executive order
Just earlier this month, President Donald Trump issued an executive order barring all male athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports. According to the order, the government would withdraw federal funding from schools and programs that fail to comply. Despite the executive order, the Maine Principals’ Association (MPA) announced that it would continue permitting male athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports. As a result, this allowed athletes like Soren Stark-Chessa to compete in the girls’ division, directly opposing the president’s mandate.
Transgender girl makes history with victory at Maine regional high school cross country championship
byu/onnake intransgender