4 female Oregon high jumpers refuse to compete against boy

A group of high school girls in Oregon took a knee in protest of a male athlete who is consistently winning competitions as a female.

Sophia Carpenter said she and three other females forfeited a competition after learning they would be competing against a boy at the Therapeutic Associates Chehalem Classic.

The male, named “Liaa” Rose, won that competition with a jump of 4’10” that was enough to beat out the 18 girls he competed with.

However, Carpenter, who is ranked No. 5 in the state at her level, decided on the day of the competition that she knew what was transpiring was not right.

‘If we take a knee every time we compete against a boy, we won’t have many more chances left to compete.’

“I heard that a couple of girls were dropping out in protest. And I thought, oh, that’s interesting. I’m not the only one that thinks this way and knows this isn’t right,” the teen told OutKick. “And so my intention was still to take my first jump, and then I would consider dropping out. But I went and I talked to the first girl who had initially dropped out, and she told me that she had thought about it and knew that she had done the right thing that day.”

The sad reality soon kicked in for the girls, though, knowing that even if they forfeited the event, if they wanted to pursue the sport in college, they would not be able to sit out every competition.

“She said, ‘We’re gonna be competing with this individual at districts and at state and for a while yet. … So today, I know I can drop out, but in the future, I won’t be able to because we want to compete in college, and recruiters are looking at us in our marks.'”

Carpenter explained that she went through with the forfeit anyway.

“If we take a knee every time we compete against a boy, we won’t have many more chances left to compete and, like, put out marks. And so, I was really struck by her confidence, and I thought there’s power in numbers. And so I knew I wanted to join her. So I told my coach, and I ended up taking a knee also. And four of us ended up dropping out of the competition, and then the male athlete won.”

Blaze News previously reported on the athlete allegedly posing as a female, Zachary Rose, who now goes by “Liaa” (or sometimes “Lia”). The boy is a student from Ida B. Wells High School in Portland, Oregon.

Earlier in April, Rose won varsity high jump at the Portland Interscholastic League Varsity Relays with a personal record. The second-place height was achieved by three different girls, two of whom were from Rose’s high school.

Rose, while competing against boys in the junior varsity category in 2023, finished in last place in a competition of 11 boys. Rose appeared to have begun competing against girls in 2024.

Federal involvement

Carpenter’s mother noted that she wanted to “draw the U.S. [Department of Justice’s] attention to this issue so that they’ll come after Oregon the way that they’re going after Maine.”

The mother explained, “Because our governor, the Oregon Department of Education, the Oregon School Activities Association, are set on allowing this to happen. They aren’t going to change. And so we need national intervention.”

The federal department has already sent a letter to the Portland Public Schools District in reference to a different incident in the state, where a male athlete won a girls’ 400-meter varsity race.

“We will not allow the Portland Public Schools District or any other educational entity that receives federal funds to trample on the antidiscrimination protections that women and girls are guaranteed under law,” Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a press release.

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