Female Oregon high jumpers' stunning act of defiance after competing with trans rival at state championships
Two female high-jump competitors refused to stand alongside a transgender rival on the podium at this weekend's high school state championships in Oregon.
Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School have been praised as heroes on social media after abandoning the medal ceremony in an apparent protest of a fifth-place finisher, who is reportedly transgender. Reese finished fourth in the state final while Anderson was third.
Rather than taking their spots on the podium, footage obtained by Fox News showed the girls turning their backs on the crowd before being ushered away from the ceremony by an official.
'Two female athletes in Oregon refused to stand on the podium because a boy was awarded a place. Girls have had enough,' conservative activist Riley Gaines wrote on X. 'Girls have had enough.'
Daily Mail has reached out to the Oregon School Activities Association for comment on the controversy.
Anderson spoke to Fox News about her decision over the weekend.
Oregon girls high jump state championships just finished. 2 of the females refused to step on the podium with the male competitor and an adult official relegated them to the sideline for refusing. THIS MUST END. https://t.co/dxIzL8Qf95 pic.twitter.com/mAVVNBIPhW
— Leigh Ann O'Neill (@LaLONeill) May 31, 2025
'We didn't refuse to stand on the podium out of hate,' she said. 'We did it because someone has to say this isn't right. In order to protect the integrity and fairness of girls sports we must stand up for what is right.'
Oregon is one of several states challenging President Donald Trump's 'Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports' executive order, which threatens to deny federal funding to rogue governments.
A recent AP-NORC poll found that about 7 in 10 U.S. adults think transgender female athletes should not be allowed to participate in girls and women's sports at the high school, college or professional level. That view was shared by about 9 in 10 Republicans and roughly half of Democrats.
The federation announced the change after Trump threatened to pull federal funding from California unless it bars trans female athletes from competing on girls teams. The federation said it decided on the change before then.
The U.S. Department of Justice also said it would investigate the federation and the district that includes Hernandez's high school to determine whether they violated federal sex discrimination law.
California law allows trans students to compete on sex-segregated sports teams consistent with their gender identity.
Statistics on transgender participation in female sports aren't comprehensive.
However, in December, NCAA President Charlie Baker testified that fewer than 10 are competing among 500,000 collegiate student athletes in the country.
The American Medical Association and American Psychiatric Association have both stated that gender is a spectrum and not a binary structure, as the White House argued in its January 20 executive order 'defending women from gender ideology.'
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