Latest news with #RiverCityHighSchool
CBS News
2 days ago
- Lifestyle
- CBS News
West Sacramento track star talks sharing podium with trans athlete amid political spotlight
WEST SACRAMENTO — A West Sacramento teen and track star is speaking out following the scrutiny over a transgender athlete competing in the state finals. President Trump shined a bright political spotlight on the state track and field championships this past weekend over trans athlete AB Hernandez competing in female events. River City High School senior Brooke White ended up sharing that spotlight and a second-place medal with Hernandez in the girls' long jump event. "I'm feeling so much relief," White said. White was back on campus with the silver medal proof of her state finals performance. "I'd say that California really thrives in the track community," White said. "I'd say choosing to join track was one of the greatest things for me because it built a family community for me." After being announced as a co-winner of the second-place medal with Hernandez, White said the two shared a hug with each other. White says the scrutiny surrounding the state finals, with protests over the politics of transgender athletes in female sports and with President Trump singling out the event, did add pressure to the athletes. "It made me really emotional seeing how people could be so hateful to a 16-year-old girl," White said. White says Hernadez's performance inspired her. "It also eased me a lot to talk to AB personally and see how she was handling the situation as a rock star," White said. "Like she PR'd, I'm pretty sure, in all three events." White will be graduating from River City High School on Wednesday. Her next stop is UC San Diego, where she will be competing on the track and field team. She also earned an athletic scholarship. "Overall, I just want to help foster peace and community and acceptance," White said.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Transgender athlete shares 2 titles at California state track and field meet
Transgender athlete shares 2 titles at California state track and field meet Show Caption Hide Caption Trump signs executive order banning trans women from sports teams President Trump signed an executive order barring transgender women and girls from playing on school sports teams. The California Interscholastic Federation crowned two champions in a pair of events at Saturday's state high school track and field meet when transgender athlete AB Hernandez placed first in the high jump and triple jump – and finished second in the long jump. Hernandez shared the podium with her cisgender competitors following a rule change enacted last week that allowed athletes assigned female at birth to receive medals based on where they would have finished if a transgender athlete had not competed. The awards ceremonies after the events did not produce any protests or disruptions – according to New York Times reporting from the meet in Clovis, California – as some had feared if Hernandez won a state title. Hernandez and Brooke White of River City High School celebrated on the podium after the long jump as they "put their arms around each other, held their medals out from their chests and smiled for photos." Despite isolated protests outside and inside the stadium, cheers largely drowned them out, the Times reported. Hernandez also was part of a three-way tie for first in the high jump after all three competitors cleared the same height. The rule change was made after President Donald Trump demanded that Hernandez – a 16-year-old junior at Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County – not be allowed to compete in girls track and field events at the state meet. Trump threatened to withhold federal funds to the state if it did not comply with an executive order he signed Feb. 5 seeking to bar transgender student athletes from playing women's sports. State athletics officials drafted the new rule to allow additional female athletes to take part in events in which a transgender athlete was competing. "The CIF values all of our student-athletes and we will continue to uphold our mission of providing students with the opportunity to belong, connect, and compete while complying with California law and Education Code," the federation said in a statement.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Trans athlete in political storm earns, and shares, first place in event
Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The California athlete at the center of a searing political debate over transgender girls competing in girls' sports went home a winner Saturday in what is arguably the most competitive state track and field meet in the nation. AB Hernandez , a junior from Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County , shared first place in the high jump and triple jump, and also shared second in the long jump. Her spot on the awards podium was a sign of how complicated her participation in the competition had President Donald Trump threatening to cut federal funding to the state if the trans girl competed, the event organizer changed the rules just days before the event in hopes of allaying concerns about the fairness of allowing Hernandez to compete. The athlete who finished behind Hernandez would be elevated to share her first awards came after the long jump, and that moment of recognition did not turn out to be awkward or contentious, as some people had two girls -- Hernandez and Brooke White of River City High School -- joked around like any teenage girls would, giving each other an enthusiastic double-handed high-five before they squeezed onto one step of the podium together. Then after both received medals, they put their arms around each other, held their medals out from their chests and smiled for and the event's winner -- Loren Webster of Wilson High School -- both had leaped more than a foot farther than anyone else in the event. For Webster, it was a back-to-back state title in the event before she heads off to compete at the University of Oregon For Hernandez, it was the celebration she had waited for after a week of enduring an intense spotlight. Two years ago, two trans girls had qualified for the state meet but withdrew because they were afraid for their safety. The online harassment had grown an emailed statement from the group TransFamily Support Services , which is representing Hernandez's family, her mother, Nereyda Hernandez, wrote that her child has been attacked for "simply being who they are."She wrote that her daughter's competitors showed her respect and sportsmanship, but recently adults -- "some even in positions of power, who should be protectors of our youth" -- were the ones harassing performances drew interest far beyond the stadium in Clovis , a city near Fresno. Her participation, allowed under a 2013 state law that said students could compete in the category consistent with their gender identity, has fueled a searing political Gavin Newsom of California, a Democrat, earlier this year called it "deeply unfair" that trans girls compete in girls' Saturday, hours before the meet, Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for governor, also weighed in on the issue, holding a campaign stop just outside the by activists holding up signs that read "Save Girls Sports" and joined by the mayor pro tem of Clovis, Diane Pearce, Hilton called out Newsom for not adequately addressing the issue of trans girls competing in girls' sports."Every time he's asked about that, he just says, 'Oh, it's too difficult and there's nothing we can do,'" Hilton said, adding that there is, in fact, something that he could do: repeal the law that allows trans girls to play. He said he would press for the meet, some coaches inside the stadium acknowledged the complexity of the situation and were sympathetic to the trans athlete's place in the middle of a national Yapo, an assistant track coach at Santa Margarita High School , said the teenager has forced him to contemplate what he would do if he were to coach a trans athlete facing added scrutiny."I don't have the answer, but I'm going through the same process as many other people," Yapo said. "But being a decent human is more important."Bryn Williams, an assistant sprint coach at the school, which had athletes competing Saturday, said the new measures about final placement seemed reasonable given that the issue arose such a short time before the event."I think it is the definition of a compromise -- trying to meet in the middle over something knowing that not everyone is going to be 100% happy with the decision that was made," she put Hernandez at the center of the issue's spotlight was that she was good at her sport. She had gone into the meet as one of the favorites in the long jump and triple jump, worrying some coaches and competitors that she would win those events and displace girls who would have won state titles if she had not points she scored would matter, too, because schools were vying for a team title and the higher an athlete places, the more points she earns for her those concerns looming, the California Interscholastic Federation, the entity that organizes the state meet, crafted the last-minute compromise to try to keep the competition fair without excluding Saturday's finals began, people outside the stadium chanted through bullhorns, "No boys in girls' sports," and some people high up in the stands shouted the same thing during Hernandez's first event, the long jump. But before she took off down the runway, cheers drowned out the chanting, with several people shouting, "Go, girl!"She stepped over the takeoff line during her first attempt, a foul. Before her next jump, the announcer got on the loudspeaker to say that the event was pausing to allow the hecklers in the stands to quiet down. He said everyone should respect the the while, none of the athletes seemed bothered: At one point Hernandez stood under a tent as she awaited her next jump, sharing a laugh with a couple of fellow competitors as the chants from outside the stadium carried and Webster exchanged the lead a few times before Webster finished on top, with a jump of 21 feet, 1/4 inch, ahead of Hernandez's 20 feet, 8-3/4 inches. In the triple jump, Hernandez's jump was 42 feet, 2-3/4 inches -- nearly 2 feet longer than the next girl's the high jump, Hernandez cleared 5 feet, 7 inches, with no missed attempts, while two other competitors -- Lelani Laruelle and Jillene Wetteland -- also cleared the height, but each with one failed three of them climbed to the top step of podium together. A lone voice shouted from the crowd, "That's a boy!" but the girls appeared to ignore it, or did not hear it, and they continued to smile for the article originally appeared in The New York Times.
