Clovis North dual champ repeats at CA track championships. Trans athlete lands 2 golds

Yahoo

4 days ago

The California Interscholastic Federation state track and field championships wrapped up Saturday with one athlete who had been in the center of national attention capturing two first-place medals and a second-place finish.
A transgender girl competitor, who The Bee is not identifying, won the girls high jump and triple jump and tied for second in the long jump at the California state finals at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis.
The athlete's appearance in the state finals had become a viral story after President Donald Trump earlier this week and local politicians later said the competition was unfair for girls competitors.
On Saturday, a person in the stands yelled out a comment during the girls long jump competition, prompting a CIF official to respond via the stadium's speaker system.
'Please show respect for the athletes. You are distracting to all athletes. Please be respectful and we will pause if this behavior continues.'
The long jump competition was delayed for five minutes before continuing. Loren Webster of Wilson-Long Beach won with a mark of 21 feet and 0 1/4 inch. Brooke White of River City was second at 19-4 1/4, tied with the trans athlete.
Webster said she had been motivated this week to perform, after coverage leading up to the meet had focused on the gender format.
The CIF said earlier in the week it was implementing a 'pilot entry process' to allow cisgender female athletes who failed to qualify to compete in the championships . A day later, the CIF said a biological female student-athlete would be on the podium at the state finals if they got the same mark as a trans athlete.
President Trump questioned the eligibility of a transgender female athletes.
Yet, Webster wasn't fazed.
'Especially after the comments that were made,' she said. 'The person ... is a cool person. I'm cordial with them.'
White said she respected the athlete.
'I have been supportive of her from the beginning,' she said. 'She works just as hard as all of us.
'She's just as nervous as all of us and she doesn't need that extra noise because the extra noise affects us, too. I'm so proud of all of us for hitting good marks, and there's a lot of (personal records) out there — but just hitting good marks even with the hate that we heard from the stands.'
White said she heard someone yell 'No boys in girls sports.'
'That's a girl,' she said. 'She is just as feminine as any of us.'
More protests continued Saturday but nothing turned physical like during qualifying on Friday. Police said two people on Saturday were told by a CIF official to leave for handing out flyers.
On Friday outside the stadium, a 19-year-old argued with a protester supporting girls rights. The incident turned physical and the 19-year-old was pepper-sprayed by the other man. Police arrested the 19 year old. The other man was not arrested.
When the athlete was introduced Saturday, she was met with applause. After she was announced as the first-place finisher in the triple jump, she gathered her belongings and walked out of the stadium with a CIF official without comment.
For senior McKay Madsen, he looked out in the distance, standing on the first-place podium, took a deep breath and let it out.
He realized that was it and thanked his god for willing him to victories in the discus and shot put — again.
His discus mark was 210-08 —and his shot put was a jaw-breaking 69-11 that drew an audible reaction from the crowd.
'So much pride, and just this whole season and my whole four years, really coming up to this point and being able to repeat what we did last year. We (were) in the running for a team championship, which is pretty crazy. Just me and Conor (Lott).'
Lott placed first in the 1,600 at 4:03.32. Luke Sanders of Buchanan placed third in 4:06.02.
'I took it race by race,' Lott said. 'I got to the point at (Central Section) Masters last week where I was like, I know I can win this; I'm in a position to.'
Clovis North had just two participants in the finals, and Madsen and Lott with three first-place finishes came close to winning the state title. But Servite finished third in the 1,600 relay to win the California team crown with 33 points over Clovis North at 30.
Madsen said he was proud of how he wrapped up his high school career with four overall first-place finishes.
'It's like literally an obsession,' he said. 'I'm thinking how am I going to pull this off? I just got to keep steady and we peaked at the right time, but every day I thought about winning and it led me here and we did it.'
Clovis North girls (eighth, 400 relay); Buchanan boys (fifth, 400 relay); Sierra Cornett, Buchanan (seventh, 1,600); Sofia Lopes, Central (seventh, 100HH and seventh, 300LH); Wyatt Ruby, Redwood (sixth, 110HH); Hudson Hergenrader, Buchanan (seventh, 110HH and fifth, 300IH)); Gabi Belli, Bullard (fourth, 400); Emanuel Morgan, Central (sixth, 400); Brandon Smith (seventh, 400); Victoria Chatter, Buchanan (seventh, 200); Clovis North girls (3200, fifth); Buchanan girls (sixth, 3200 relay); Monache boys (seventh, 3,200 relay); Isabella Ramirez, Bullard (eighth, 3200); Clovis North (seventh, 1,600 relay); Central boys (second, 1,600 relay); Karsyn Van Grouw, Buchanan (fourth, discus); Krista Hopkins, Clovis (eighth, long jump); Tyrik Jackson, Hanford (ninth, long jump); Indiana Davis, Clovis East (ninth, high jump); Jazmaine Stewart, Redwood (sixth, triple jump); Liliana Medrano, Clovis East (ninth, triple jump).