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Transgender Track and Field-Athlet AB Hernandez won two first plate medals at California’s state championships earlier this month and laughed on Saturday and LO of setbacks.
The Jurupa Valley High School Athlet was at the center of the controversy around the transient athletes’ participation in California High School Athletics. It drew condemnation from President Donald Trump and dueling litigation between the Ministry of Justice and the state.
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The winners in first place AB Hernandez, Left, and Jillene Wetteland share an easy moment before the medal ceremony to the California High School Track-and-Field Championships in Clovis, California, Saturday, May 31, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
California Interscholastic Federation even made a change to allow biological women to receive medals in first place if their status was displaced by a transgender athlete.
“It’s definitely crazy. I get a lot of hate comments, but I don’t care,” Hernandez told KCRA TV with a laugh. “I am a 16-year-old girl with a mad attitude-you, I will care?”
According to the station, Hernandez tried to avoid the limelight before it was revealed that the athlete identified himself as transgender. Hernandez became the third in the girls ‘triple Jump state final in 2024 before winning the event as a junior in 2025. Hernandez also won in the girls’ high -mood this year.
AB Hernandez, Center, flashes a sign as she shares first place on the podium with Jillene Wetteland, Left, and Lelani Laruelle during a medal era for the California High School Track-and-Field Championships in Clovis, California, Saturday, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Tracking Trans Athlete High School Sports controversy that shakes the nation in the last year
Hernandez called the protests that followed “weird” and promised to take a page from the critics and not back from competing.
“I did what I wanted to do,” Hernandez told the station. “I was in everything, so that’s what I really aimed to do. All this setback I am like, I appeared best, and that’s all I was interested in.”
It is unclear whether new rules will come into place in California for next season.
AB Hernandez, a trans-gender student at the Jurupa Valley High School, poses for photos with his medals at California High School Track-and-Field Championships in Clovis, California, Saturday, May 31, 2025. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Trump signed “No Men In Women’s Sports” executive order in February and forbade schools to let men compete in girls and women’s sports. California was one of five states that saw transient athletes win medals in championships during the 2024-25 high school sports season.
