Trans athlete forced to share 1st place with cisgender girls at track meet

She jumped higher than any other girl and took first place in three track and field contests. But a state athletic policy enacted last year forced transgender athlete AB Hernandez to share the podium on Saturday with cisgender girls who couldn't match her performance.

Hernandez, a two-time state champion representing Jurupa Valley High School, won the high jump, long jump, and triple jump competitions at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section finals in Division 3.

The 17-year-old was apparently warming up for her next event when the long jump medal ceremony took place, so Moorpark High School's Gianna Gonzalez stood alone on the first-place podium, despite finishing more than a foot behind Hernandez, Fox News reported. Later, although she edged out Oak Park High School's Gwynneth Mureika by two inches in the high jump, Hernandez shared the top podium spot with Mureika, adhering to the CIF pilot entry program.

Then, after jumping nearly two feet higher in the triple jump than Malia Strange of Shadow Hills, Hernandez finally stood alone in the top spot of the podium. But although Strange was absent, she still received a gold medal as a co-winner, as did Gonzalez and Mureika.

While there are no reports of protests at Saturday's meet, the anti-inclusion group Save Girls' Sports organized a demonstration at the track and field preliminary meet earlier this month at Yorba Linda High School. They accused Gov. Gavin Newsom of failing to protect fairness in girls’ sports.

“Girls across California will continue losing placements, safety, and opportunities that they rightfully earned,” said former Vanguard University soccer player Sophia Lorey, who is the outreach director of California Family Council, a Christian organization designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Hernandez's mother put the protests in perspective for her daughter. “I told AB, this is an election year,” said Nereyda Hernandez.

“It’s just the outsiders,” Hernandez told the Los Angeles Times. “They’re infiltrating, pretending they’re parents or they know people, but I’m the mom. I know who they are.”

And she warned her daughter: “They’re gonna hit us hard, because they’re using us for their campaigns.”

Hernandez said she is constantly reminding people that her daughter’s participation does not violate any California law or CIF bylaw, and she doesn’t block anyone else from participating in competition. “She has been doing this sport since freshman year [of high school],” Hernandez said. “She’s not doing anything wrong.”

This spring, she said she's seen fewer protests compared to 2025.

“Once they started posting about their protest, I thought, ‘Wow, it’s going to be another crazy year,’” she said. “But no, on the outside, they had maybe, maybe 10 people."

The CIF initiated its pilot entry program policy last year with the intention to allow cisgender female athletes to qualify for first place, even if they don't win, while still allowing transgender female athletes to compete, in accordance with California state law. As The Advocate reported, the state is suing the Trump administration over its demand that California abandon that law.

One year ago, President Trump himself targeted Hernandez, without directly naming her, and threatened to withhold state funding if she was allowed to continue to compete.

But she has, despite the CIF policy and protests by opponents of transgender inclusion, including elected officials in the California city where the state finals will be held.

“I think what the pilot entry program really exposes is that CIF admits and acknowledges that this isn’t fair,” said Clovis Mayor Pro Tem and city councilmember Diane Pearce, an anti-trans inclusion advocate who spoke to KION-TV.

Stetler Brown, an LGBTQ+ advocate in Clovis, told KION-TV Hernandez was being unfairly targeted.

“Some of the actions taken by some of our local elected officials this year and previous years against the LGBTQ community are a waste of political energy,” said Brown. “And even though there were naysayers protesting her competing, it’s a very proud moment that she’s coming back."

Pearce did concede that criticisms of the student-athletes were unfair.

“Everyone should feel safe. These are kids, okay?” Pearce told KION-TV. “I have nothing to say negatively about the kids who are competing.”

Next up, these teen student-athletes move on to the CIF preliminaries next Saturday to face the rest of the state's top female jumpers, hoping for a chance to get back to the state CIF finals in Clovis, California, beginning on Friday, May 29. Hernandez's goal is to go home a winner.

But even if she defeats every single competitor, the best she can hope for under CIF rules is co-winner, because she's transgender.