Steve Gardner – USA TODAY – June 1, 2025

Flanked by fourth-place winner Ellie McCuskey-Hay, left, and first-place winner Loren Webster, right, second-place winners AB Hernandez, center right, and Brooke White share the podium during a medal ceremony for the long jump at the California high school track and field championships in Clovis. Credit: AP Photo / Jae C. Hong

Above photo from EdSource – June 1, 2025 – reported by Lasherica Thornton

Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High in Southern California, was unflappable in the Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis, even when insulted or met with silence in the packed venue. 

She has “consistently displayed more dignity, maturity, and grace than the many adults, from the president on down, who chose to attack and bully her to score political points,” said Tony Hoang, executive director of Equality California, the state’s LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. “We could not be prouder of the way this brave student-athlete conducted herself on and off the track.” 

Hernandez qualified as the top competitor in the long jump and triple jump on Friday, outperforming others by 6.25 inches and 9.75 inches, respectively, and in the high jump, scoring the same as five other athletes. 

During the championship round on Saturday, she was outperformed in the long jump and continued to tie with other athletes in the high jump. 

Even though she is not ranked as a top athlete nationally, she held on to California’s top marks in the triple jump. 

This past weekend’s championship revealed conflicting stances on the issue of transgender females competing in women’s sports that point to unresolved questions about what should be done to ensure fairness and inclusion.

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My cmnt: Rather than just admit that trans boys have a physical advantage over real girls the evil Left cleverly decided to call it “competing with” and to give the rightful medals to the real girls and the fake girl also.

The California Interscholastic Federation crowned two champions in a pair of events at Saturday’s state high school track and field meet when transgender athlete AB Hernandez placed first in the high jump and triple jump – and finished second in the long jump.

Hernandez shared the podium with her cisgender competitors following a rule change enacted last week that allowed athletes assigned female at birth to receive medals based on where they would have finished if a transgender athlete had not competed.

The awards ceremonies after the events did not produce any protests or disruptions – according to New York Times reporting from the meet in Clovis, California – as some had feared if Hernandez won a state title.

Hernandez and Brooke White of River City High School celebrated on the podium after the long jump as they “put their arms around each other, held their medals out from their chests and smiled for photos.”

Despite isolated protests outside and inside the stadium, cheers largely drowned them out, the Times reported.

Hernandez also was part of a three-way tie for first in the high jump after all three competitors cleared the same height.

The rule change was made after President Donald Trump demanded that Hernandez – a 16-year-old junior at Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County – not be allowed to compete in girls track and field events at the state meet. Trump threatened to withhold federal funds to the state if it did not comply with an executive order he signed Feb. 5 barring transgender student athletes from playing women’s sports.

State athletics officials drafted the new rule to allow additional female athletes to take part in events in which a transgender athlete was competing.

“The CIF 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,” the federation said in a statement.