YORBA LINDA, Calif. — A California postseason track meet on Saturday opened with a “Save Girls’ Sports” rally outside the gates and ended in familiar fashion, as one athlete again separated from the field in the jumping events, highlighting growing concerns over competitive fairness in girls’ sports.
Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Division 3 preliminaries in Yorba Linda drew attention before competition began, with demonstrators protesting California’s policy allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ sports.
Inside, the focus turned to the jumping events, where biological male AB Hernandez, a senior from Jurupa Valley, competed against women and finished first across all three competitions with dominant performances.
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Hernandez, a trans multi-sport athlete (previously involved in girls’ volleyball), won the Long Jump Division 3 Prelim and Triple Jump Division 3 Prelim by wide margins and tied for first in the High Jump Division 3 Prelim with Reese Hogan, an athlete with past ties to Hernandez.
The long jump result separated the field. Hernandez posted 20 feet, 4 1/4 inches. The next closest finishers reached 19 feet, 1 1/2 inches and 18 feet, 7 inches.
More than a foot separated first from second.
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The triple jump underscored the disparity. Hernandez recorded 42 feet, 4 inches. The runners-up finished at 39 feet, 7 1/2 inches and 37 feet, 8 inches.
The growing attention around the issue was evident in the stands at Yorba Linda High School, which hosted the prelims.
One grandparent in attendance, there to support Moorpark High School, pointed to how familiar the situation has become.
“It happened last year and I thought it’d be done, but it’s California,” the grandparent said with a shrug.
Another parent, a father from Yucca Valley, voiced a general agreement with the concerns around trans athletes.
“I think they should have their own division. I just don’t like bullying one kid,” he said.
The high jump brought past competitor Reese Hogan back into the fold.
Hernandez and Hogan both cleared 5 feet, 2 inches, finishing tied for first.
Hogan previously drew attention after stepping onto the first-place podium spot following an event Hernandez had won, a move championed by pro women’s sports advocates as a statement about who should hold that position.
On Saturday, the two athletes met again at the top of the standings, and the result was a tie.
Outside the venue, the earlier rally led by former NCAA athlete Sophia Lorey focused on fairness and competitive balance in girls’ sports.
In an individual sport, removed from any team dynamic, the results board made the fairness debate hard to ignore.
Hernandez’s marks told the story: a long jump of 20 feet, 4 1/4 inches, a triple jump of 42 feet, 4 inches, and a high jump tie at 5 feet, 2 inches.
Hernandez competed under rules California has allowed for more than a decade. Those rules remain at the center of a growing conflict between state officials and federal leaders over Title IX and women’s sports. That battle has now moved into the courts, with the Department of Justice suing California over its transgender athlete policies.
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In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office distanced the governor from the lawsuit, emphasizing he was not personally named while defending the state’s existing law.
Saturday’s prelims in Yorba Linda added more data to the growing push to keep biological males out of girls’ events.
The protest set the tone early, and by day’s end the argument had moved off the sidewalk and onto the results board, where the outcome carried real consequences.
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