A transgender athlete won two events at the California state track and field championships this weekend after officials announced an adjustment to high school sports rules essentially defying President Trump’s executive order to protect girls in sports.
A.B. Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High in Southern California, won the girl’s triple jump and high jump, sharing the high jump win with two other contestants.
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) changed the rules before the meet so girls who finished behind a biological male still got the award they would have won if the trans athlete had not competed. The rule change allows the trans athlete to still win a medal while also allowing female athletes on the medal podium, even if they technically missed out on a medal finish.
For example, Hernandez finished the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 7 inches (1.7 meters), with no failed attempts. Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle also cleared that height after each logged a failed attempt. However, the three shared the first-place win.
CIF said in a statement, “(It) values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code.”
Protestors opposed Hernandez competing in the championship saying girls’ sports should be for girls only, not biological males.
“The new proposed CIF rule is a travesty. No one thought it through while they tried to cut the baby in half for the sake of a boy’s feelings,” said Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, on X.
“The thrill and joy of winning is stripped from the girl,” she continued. “She is, at the moment she is supposed to taste victory, told to compare herself to a male standard (and a male that can’t even measure up to a good male standard). She gets what feels like a consolation prize she had to share.”
“It’s an insult. It’s robbery. It’s stealing everything wonderful about chasing wins, working toward an accomplishment, and celebrating the limits and successes of female athletes,” Jones added.
“He is a mediocre male athlete. He gets to stand on the girl’s podium & be listed as the winner in the girls’ category because he misrepresents who he is,” Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, the only athletic brand to support women athletes and their sports, wrote on X.
“I blame CIF, @GavinNewsom, and the boy’s mother. They further the message that one boy’s feelings matter (more) than all girls’ hard work and the rights afforded them from Title IX,” she continued.
Hundreds have chimed in on the controversial matter online as the CIF implemented its pilot program.
President Trump criticized the state ahead of the championships and called for federal funding to be stripped for allowing male athletes in female sports.
“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social, last week.
“THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS. Please be hereby advised that large-scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not totally adhered to,” the president concluded.
The Journal of the Endocrine Society finds that teen males have 15 times the amount of testosterone circulating in their bodies than females who’ve gone through puberty. That means at least a 10% advantage in running and swimming and a 20% advantage in jumping events, according to the 2018 review.
“He might be transitioned, but he is still a male,” said Mimi Israelah, who protested Hernandez’s performance. “It’s not fair for the women, and it is destroying women’s sports.”
According to results posted by the CIF of the state championship, Hernandez’s performance not only places him fourth among other highschool girls in the triple jump, but ranks him 70th among all collegiate females competing in the same event.
However, as HeCheated.org points out, Hernandez “does not even rank in the top 250 high school jumpers in the state of California” among males.
“‘Trans’ is the celebration of male mediocrity and in doing so ignoring and failing to celebrate actual female athleticism,” the organization wrote on X.
Oregon
California is not the only state where trans athletes took victories from girls over the weekend.
In Oregon, Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School refused to share their spot on the podium with a trans athlete during the state championship on Saturday.
The pair who competed in the high jump stepped off the podium and faced the opposite direction when the Ida B. Wells High School gave a medal for a fifth-place finish. The athlete previously competed in the boys’ category in 2023 and 2024, Fox News reports.
Two girls who had to compete against a boy at the Oregon high jump state championships refused to step on the podium in protest.
They were punished and sent to the sidelines.
Gender ideology is male entitlement peddled as progressive.pic.twitter.com/2eDZQktJsS
— Genevieve Gluck (@WomenReadWomen) June 1, 2025
The moment, caught on video, has gone viral.
“Two female athletes in Oregon refused to stand on the podium because a boy was awarded a place,” wrote conservative women’s advocate Riley Gaines. “Girls have had enough.”
As CBN News reported, Gaines had to share the podium with Lia Thomas, formerly Will Thomas, when the trans athlete swam for the University of Pennsylvania. The two tied for fifth place in the NCAA’s 2022 women’s 200 freestyle.
Thomas later went on to take first place in the women’s 500 freestyle, becoming the first trans athlete to win an NCAA national championship.
That moment galvanized Gaines’ resolve and launched her into advocacy.
Minnesota
Gaines also pointed out how a trans-identifying female-dominated the Class 4A Softball Championship in Minnesota.
“He pitched 14 shutout innings in back-to-back games to defeat the defending state champs,” she wrote on X. “14. Shutout. Innings.”
As CBN News reported, a sports advocacy group is suing Minnesota’s attorney general on behalf of three female softball players over a state policy that allows males to compete in female sports.
Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit legal group, is representing Female Athletes United (FAU) and the high school athletes.
“Minnesota is failing its female athletes. The state is putting the rights of males ahead of females, telling girls their hard work may never be enough to win and that they don’t deserve fairness and safety,” said ADF legal counsel Suzanne Beecher.
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