Southern California transgender athlete wins gold in state championships amid Trump threats 

A transgender athlete from SoCal won two gold medals and a silver medal at the state track and field finals on Saturday, days after President Donald Trump threatened to revoke federal funding from California because she was participating in the competition.  

AB Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High School, won the girls long jump and triple jump at the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section Masters meet on May 24, which qualified her for the state championships that took place on Friday and Saturday. Hernandez, 16, came out as transgender in eighth grade, her mother said in an interview.  

President Donald Trump objected to the teen’s victory in a May 27 post on his social media platform Truth Social, claiming she won “everything” at the meet (even though she tied for fourth in high jump, which was also enough to qualify for the state championships) and falsely stating she previously competed on the boys team.  

“This week a transitioned Male athlete, at a major event, won ‘everything,’ and is now qualified to compete in the ‘State Finals’ next weekend. As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable,” Trump’s May 27 post reads. “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 adhered to.” 

Hours after the post, however, the California Interscholastic Federation announced an adjustment to high school sports rules regarding trans athletes.  

The new process would allow “any biological female student-athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section’s automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet, and did not achieve the CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet,” to compete in the 2025 CIF State Track and Field Championships. 

“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 organization said in a statement. 

Officials reached the agreement to implement the pilot program after the conclusion of the CIF Section’s track and field qualifying meets, meaning this weekend’s state track-and-field finals were thrust into the spotlight as the new participation and medaling policy was put in place. 

Under the new rule, if a transgender athlete were to medal, their ranking would not displace a “biological female” student from the medaling, which according to the CIF, opens the field to more “biological female” athletes. The federation did not specify how they define “biological female” or how they would verify whether a competitor meets that definition. 

At the competition this weekend, Hernandez did not seem to be too affected by the controversy surrounding her inclusion, according to reports from the Los Angeles Times, even though there was a small group of protesters outside the stadium that could be heard chanting during some of her jumps. 

A plane with a banner saying “No boys in girls sports” was also seen above Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School in Clovis, where the championships were taking place.

“[She] appeared calm and focused as she competed,” the outlet reported. “When her name was announced for the long jump, she waved to the crowd. When she was announced for the high jump, she smiled.”  

After beating out all other competitors in the triple jump, she got 1^st place; the runner-up was also awarded a 1^st place medal under the new rules. You can view the full results of the 2025 CIF State Championships here.

In the long jump, the girl who beat Hernandez for the gold (Hernandez finished second) told the L.A. Times that she wasn’t giving her much thought at all.  

“It wasn’t any other person I was worried about. I knew what I was capable of,” Loren Webster, a senior from Wilson High School in Long Beach, said. “I can’t control the uncontrollable.” 

In a statement to the Times, Hernandez’s mother Nereyda was as proud as any other parent of a medal-winning high school athlete would be. 

“Watching you rise above months of being targeted, misunderstood, and judged not by peers, but by adults who should’ve known better, has left me in awe of your strength,” her statement said. “Despite it all, you stayed focused. You kept training, you kept showing up, and now you’re bringing THE GOLD HOME!!!” 

The day after Trump’s post and the CIF policy adjustment, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that it would be opening an investigation into whether AB 1266, a California law that permits transgender females to participate in female sports teams at state schools, violates the federal Title IX civil rights law.  

California is one of 22 states that has a law requiring transgender students to participate in sports consistent with their gender identity; the legislation was signed by former Gov. Jerry Brown in 2013. 

According to the office of current Gov. Gavin Newsom, out of the 5.8 million students in the state’s K-12 public school system, the number of active transgender student-athletes is estimated to be in the single digits.