California Hands Female Runners-Up Duplicate Gold as Trans Athlete Sweeps Three Events

AB Hernandez, the transgender senior from Jurupa Valley High School, won the high jump, long jump and triple jump at the California Interscholastic Federation Southern Section finals in Moorpark on Saturday. They were the same three events Hernandez won at last year’s state final. The wins put California’s shared-podium rule back at the center of a fight that has stretched into the courts, the governor’s office and the White House.

The long jump mark of 20 feet, 4.75 inches (6.21 meters) was more than a foot ahead of Moorpark High’s Gianna Gonzalez, who reached 19 feet (5.79 meters). In the high jump, Hernandez cleared 5 feet, 8 inches (1.72 meters). Oak Park’s Gwynneth Mureika finished two inches behind. Under a CIF pilot program first run last May, Mureika still walked away with gold. Any biological female athlete who finishes directly behind a transgender competitor at a CIF final is bumped to an identical placement, with an identical medal.

That meant Hernandez and Mureika shared the top step of the high jump podium. Reese Hogan of Crean Lutheran was moved up to second. During the long jump and triple jump ceremonies, several competitors stayed back from Hernandez. One athlete skipped the podium altogether, according to The New York Post. Roughly 2,000 spectators were in the stands.

In a letter to parents dated May 16, the CIF said the policy would continue through the rest of the postseason. “The CIF values all our student-athletes, and we will continue to uphold our mission in providing students the opportunity to belong, connect and compete, while complying with California law and Education Code,” the federation wrote.

Hernandez’s mother, Nereyda Hernandez, has supported her child all season. After Saturday’s meet, she reshared a post from Rainbow Families Action that took aim at CIF leadership. “All these big, tough ex-athletes at CIF, and the most courage they could muster was to hand this to coaches at AB’s meet today,” the group wrote. “Not one of them was brave enough to look her or her mother in the eye and say: ‘This whole project of violating Ed Code is aimed at you. A child.’”

On Instagram, Nereyda Hernandez wrote: “Today at the CIF Track & Field Finals my heart was full watching A.B compete. No matter how differently she may be seen by some, she continues to walk onto that field with the most beautiful smile on her face, gives EVERY event her ALL, and carries herself with grace, determination, and sportsmanship.”

Several girls in the field see the policy very differently. Olivia Viola, a Crean Lutheran track and field athlete, told Fox News the rule does not go far enough. “I would say it’s nothing but a band-aid fix from the athletic governing board,” Viola said. “It doesn’t actually undo all of the displacements that have happened throughout their entire league. It only applies to the final CIF meets. It doesn’t apply to league, it doesn’t apply to outside meets, it doesn’t apply to other sports. It doesn’t actually fix the problem; it’s just a blanket to keep us quiet.”

Former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines posted on X: “If you have to create a shared podium for the boy competing in the girls’ event, you’ve already admitted you know he isn’t a girl and that his participation is unfair. At that point, you’re just seeking a public humiliation ritual for the girls.”

California is one of 22 states that allow students to take part in sex-segregated school sports consistent with their gender identity. The state’s law, AB 1266, was signed by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2013. Last year, after Hernandez won two state titles and took second in a third event, the Trump administration’s Justice Department filed a Title IX lawsuit against California’s education agencies. The dispute echoes other running stories from the past year, including parkrun’s legal fight over its trans-inclusion policy and questions about the Boston Marathon’s non-binary qualifying standards.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office defended the framework. “The Governor has said discussions on this issue should be guided by fairness, dignity, and respect,” a source in his office told Fox News Digital. “He rejects the right wing’s cynical attempt to weaponize this debate as an excuse to vilify individual kids.”

The protests in California sit inside a longer arc of women’s sports history. Title IX itself was passed in 1972, and stories like the women who ran Boston before they were allowed to are still being written into the record. Track and field has its own version of that history. World Athletics’ 2025 Athlete of the Year shortlist arrived alongside the body’s policy banning transgender women from elite female competition.

Hernandez and the female finishers elevated by the rule will move on to the CIF preliminaries next Saturday. The state finals begin May 29 in Clovis. The crowd will likely be larger. The argument will not be quieter.