Transgender Athlete Smiles Victoriously after Winning California Championship Finals

A transgender athlete continued to spark controversy as she leapt to victory at the California high school championships Saturday. 

AB Hernandez, a biological male, won the high jump and triple jump at the California Interscholastic Federation state finals despite Donald Trump’s executive order.

Accompanied by officials, Hernandez and her mother entered the stadium, causing controversy as she competed under a new rule.

In the varsity high jump final, Hernandez, Lelani Laruelle, and Jillene Wetteland all reached 5′ 7″, resulting in a three-way tie for first place, with Julia Teven taking third.

She later wrapped up the night with another first-place finish, this time in the triple jump. She again shared the top spot with Kira Gant Hatcher, who trailed by just over a half-meter. 

The CIF had announced a new policy earlier this week in response to backlash surrounding Hernandez’s success heading into the championships. Under the change, the federation allowed an additional student to compete and medal in the events where Hernandez qualified, meaning she shared her finish with at least one other competitor in all three events.

Earlier in the afternoon, she could only manage a second-place finish in the long jump event after her jump of 20′ 8¾” fell just short of the winning 21′ 0¼” mark set by Loren Webster. Hernandez beamed as she posed alongside co-second Brooke White.

The dramatic row surrounding Hernandez’s participation had sparked fury across the US, with Trump even threatening to hold back ‘large scale Federal Funding’ and blasting the state governor who he claims has continued to ‘ILLEGALLY allow “MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS”‘.

Both Hernandez and her mother Nereyda refused to comment on the president’s furious response when asked by DailyMail.com following the finals – with the latter wagging her finger to the camera. 

In previous meets, Hernandez has faced controversy from her own competitors – with a teenage girl she beat to first place waiting for her rival to get down from the top of the podium before posing up there herself. 

Meanwhile, her glamorous mother has been confronted by angry parents whose daughters are losing out on gold medals as a result.

And ahead of Saturday’s championships, Hernandez and her escort traipsed past protestors who had once again descended on the state finals to voice their outrage against the controversial young athlete’s participation. 

The demonstrators, who were forced to carry out their protest outside the stadium due to the CIF’s rules, carried signs bearing messages of ‘NO DUDES IN GIRLS SPACES’ and ‘NO CHILD IS BORN IN THE WRONG BODY.’ 

Despite the CIF’s ban on banners and signs inside the ground, the message of the protestors could be heard over the fence – reaching the ears of Hernandez as she began the long jump, her first event of the day. 

‘No guys in girls sports,’ one man’s shout was blasted through a megaphone as Hernandez made her first jump, which she shockingly scratched.

Organizers were forced to intervene, pausing the event for five minutes as announcer called for ‘respect’ over the tannoy.

‘Please show respect, be respectful, they said. ‘We will continue to pause if this behavior continues.’

Yet, Hernandez wasn’t to be deterred. Brushing off the interruption, she bounced back to form, going on to cruise to her two golds and silver medal. 

However, protestor Beth Bourne, 55, from Davis, California, insisted that her outrage wasn’t directed at Hernandez, but rather her mother. 

‘I feel huge compassion for this young man, this boy, he’s 17 years old,’ Bourne, a member of the ‘Moms for Liberty Yolo County’ group, told DailyMail.com. ‘He has a mother who’s been duped to believe that her child could be born in the wrong body.

‘Many of these feminine boys could grow up to be gay, healthy men. AB Hernandez enjoys wearing makeup, long hair, dresses. 

‘His mother believes that rather than letting her son grow up to be a gay boy, that he could be a trans woman, right? So if you have a mother who is affirming a young boy to believe that he could grow up to be a woman. 

Bourne said that she had been a lifelong Democrat until turning red in last year’s election after local Democratic groups failed to support her cause. 

‘We want to protect his body,’ she added. ‘We do not want him to be a medical experiment. We don’t want him to lose his healthy sexual organs. We don’t want him to put on estrogen or puberty blockers that will sterilize him.

‘It’s an unfolding medical scandal and it’s okay to say that every child is perfect in their body. It is not transphobic. It is not hateful. It is not bigoted.’

Hernandez sealed her place in three finals after coming out on top in all of her preliminary heats on Friday – despite the shocking scenes outside the stadium.

As protesters descended on the preliminary events police were dramatically called in – with protesters ‘turning physical’ and even using pepper spray. 

They arrested one alleged LGBTQ activist, who is accused of shattering a car window with a flag pole – as Sergeant Chris Hutchison of Clovis Police Department said he doesn’t ‘have room for violence.’

Videos of the alleged attack show a masked protestor with a trans flag walking up to a car before thrusting it through the window. The person in the car claims that they responded with pepper spray.

As the girls took to the field, a plane even flew a banner across the high school track-and-field championships stating ‘No boys in girls sports’. While the girl competed she was heckled by gathered activists and others wore ‘Save Girls´ Sports’ T-shirts.

In February, Trump signed an executive order banning trans athletes from women’s sports called ‘Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports’.

The pledge was one of Trump’s most popular rallying cries during the 2024 election campaign and his move to follow through on his vow was celebrated by many sports fans.

Ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, the Department of Homeland Security has been ordered to ‘reject any and all visa applications made by men attempting to fraudulently enter the United States while identifying as women athletes’.

In March, World Athletics followed the President’s example as president Sebastian Coe approved bombshell new measures to protect female athletes, introducing cheek swabbing to determine if an athlete is a biological woman.

Hernandez’s glamorous mother, who has also been confronted by angry parents whose daughters are losing out on gold medals, yesterday responded to the dramatic onslaught. She slammed the President’s ‘weapons of harm’ and saying her daughter had become the ‘target of a national campaign of cruelty’.

Hernandez has previously faced controversy from her own competitors – with a teenage girl they beat to first place waited for her rival to get down from the top of the podium before posing up there herself.