Trans athlete AB Hernandez takes girls' track and field state championships in California, defying Trump
Just days after President Donald Trump sent a warning to California about letting a transgender athlete compete in the girls' track and field state championship, the state allowed a trans athlete to take two titles against female competitors on Saturday.
AB Hernandez, a transgender student athlete for Jurupa Valley High School, took first place in the girls' high jump and triple jump at the state championship on Saturday at Veteran's Memorial Stadium in Clovis, California.
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Hernandez also finished in second place in the high jump to Woodrow Wilson High School's Loren Webster, who was the only female to finish ahead of Hernandez in any competition the trans athlete competed in this weekend.
Hernandez previously took first place in all three events at the preliminary round on Friday.
However, the female competitors who finished behind Hernandez in the events were all bumped up one spot and received the medal they would have earned had the trans athlete not competed.
The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) made a series of sweeping rule changes in the days leading up to the event to ensure any females who finished behind a biological male would be appropriately rewarded a medal based on where they placed among female competitors.
So during the medal ceremonies for the three events, the female competitors who finished one spot behind Hernandez had to stand next to the trans athlete on the podium.
Even with the rule changes, Hernandez's presence in the girls' competition prompted controversy and a heavy protest presence throughout the weekend.
Conflicting protests plagued the championship starting on Friday with pro-LGBTQ protesters and pro-female protesters wielding signs, flags and clothing expressing their respective messaging.
On Friday, a plane flying a banner that read "No Boys in Girls' Sports!" even passed over the stadium.
However, the conflict between the protesters at one point became violent, when an LGBTQ protester allegedly struck local conservative activist Josh Fulfer with a flag pole on Friday. Footage obtained by Fox News Digital shows the LGBTQ protester Ethan Kroll appear to attack Fulfer through a car window, and Kroll subsequently getting arrested.
Police records obtained by Fox News Digital show that Kroll, a male, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm, obstructing a public officer and vandalism.
Clovis Police Sgt. Chris Hutchison told Fox News Digital no other criminal incidents occurred at or near the track meet Friday night.
"Our stance is always to allow people to exercise their constitutional right to free speech and protest," Hutchison said. "They have a right to do it in a manner that isn't inciting violence or causing other problems. … We don't have room for violence or property damage or anything like that."
But on Saturday, California Family Council outreach director Sophia Lorey was escorted out of Veteran's Memorial Stadium by CIF officials for passing out "Save Girls' Sports" wristbands with pro-female messaging to spectators. Footage shared by Lorey on social media shows the confrontation between her and the CIF official as Lorey is gestured out of the venue.
Lorey told Fox News Digital that she had passed the messages out at previous events without any issues.
"We handed out half-page fliers at the prelims event and we were not told anything that we couldn't do that," Lorey said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the CIF for comment on Lorey's video.
Lorey and local conservative activist Beth Bourne told Fox News Digital that, unlike previous events, a man on a megaphone repeatedly ordered spectators not to make disparaging comments about any competitors, officials or other spectators on Saturday.
Lorey attended a press conference at the meet earlier that day where California 2026 gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton spoke in support of protecting girls' sports from trans inclusion.
Current Governor Gavin Newsom has been the subject of frequent local and national criticism throughout the track and field postseason for enabling the trans athlete to compete, despite previously admitting on his podcast that he believes males competing in girls' sports was "deeply unfair."
Trump singled out Newsom in a Truth Social post on Tuesday when he threatened to cut funding to the state if a trans athlete was allowed to compete in the girls' competition this weekend. But the state did not yield to Trump, and instead simply passed the rule changes to accommodate other female athletes.
The U.S. Department of Justice announced an investigation into the state over the issue on Wednesday, and the U.S. Department of Education has been investigating the state over the issue since February.
However, California is far from the only state that saw its girls' track and field championships overshadowed by trans athlete controversy.
This very same weekend, trans athletes reportedly competed and won state competitions in Maine, Washington, Oregon and Minnesota.
Trump signed his "Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports" executive order on Feb. 5, but many Democratic states have openly defied the order, resulting in multiple controversial situations like the one involving Hernandez across the nation in 2025.
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