An Oregon high school track and field star who refused to share a podium with a transgender athlete during the girls’ high jump medal ceremony alleged officials told her to move away from the ceremony if she wasn’t going to participate.

Tigard High School’s Alexa Anderson went viral when she protested the conclusion of the Oregon State Athletic Association’s Girls High Jump finale at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore., on May 31.

Anderson and Sherwood High School’s Reese Eckard, who finished in third and fourth place, stood behind the ascending podium in the infield during the ceremony because they refused to stand next to Ida B. Wells High School transgender student Liaa Rose, who placed fifth.

“We stepped off the podium in protest and, as you can see, the official kind of told us ‘hey, go over there, if you’re not going to participate, get out of the photos,’” she told Fox News‘ “The Ingraham Angle.”

Anderson, a University of South Alabama commit, alleged that the area where they were told to stand was out of the view of the photographers.

“They asked us to move away from the medal stand, so when they took the photos, we weren’t even in it at all,” she told the outlet.

Anderson and Eckard had synchronously stepped off their respective platforms and turned their backs to the podium as the names of the top eight finishers were announced.

An official spotted them and pointed them away from the podium, frustrating Anderson.

Rose jumped 5 feet and 1.65 inches in the competition, behind Eckard’s 5 feet 3 inches and Anderson’s 5 feet 4.25 inches.

Anderson and Eckard, both seniors, felt it was unfair for them to compete against a transgender opponent who competed in the boys division in 2023 and 2024.

“It’s unfair because biological males and biological females compete at such different levels that letting a biological male into our competition is taking up space and opportunities from all these hardworking women, the girl in ninth who should have came in eighth and had that podium spot taken away from her, as well as many others,” Anderson said.

Anderson said it was the first time she publicly protested a transgender athlete but had always supported other females who took a stand against the controversial policy in high school sports.

“This is the first public stand that I have taken in this issue, but I have privately supported all the girls that have done with positive messages, commenting on posts, just supporting them and letting them know I’m behind them in any way,” Anderson said. 

At the same time as Anderson’s protest, transgender athlete Verónica Garcia won the state Class 2A 400-meter dash in nearby Washington.

Garcia won the race by over a second and called out the critics for the dominating win against biological females.

“I’ll be honest, I kind of expect it,” Garcia told the outlet.

“But it maybe didn’t have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I’m going to push,” Garcia said after the race.

The 17-year-old senior from East Valley High School had made Washington State last year by being the first transgender athlete to win a title.

“I’m going to put this in the most PG-13 way, I’m just going to say it’s a damn shame they don’t have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people,” she added.

With Post wires

Get IPL 2025 match schedules, squads, points table, and live scores for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.

A transgender athlete won two events at the California state track and field championships this weekend after officials announced an adjustment to high school sports rules essentially defying President Trump’s executive order to protect girls in sports. 

A.B. Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High in Southern California, won the girl’s triple jump and high jump, sharing the high jump win with two other contestants.
   
California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) changed the rules before the meet so girls who finished behind a biological male still got the award they would have won if the trans athlete had not competed. The rule change allows the trans athlete to still win a medal while also allowing female athletes on the medal podium, even if they technically missed out on a medal finish.

For example, Hernandez finished the high jump with a mark of 5 feet, 7 inches (1.7 meters), with no failed attempts. Jillene Wetteland and Lelani Laruelle also cleared that height after each logged a failed attempt. However, the three shared the first-place win.

CIF said in a statement, “(It) 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.”
   
Protestors opposed Hernandez competing in the championship saying girls’ sports should be for girls only, not biological males.

“The new proposed CIF rule is a travesty. No one thought it through while they tried to cut the baby in half for the sake of a boy’s feelings,” said Kim Jones, co-founder of the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, on X. 

“The thrill and joy of winning is stripped from the girl,” she continued. “She is, at the moment she is supposed to taste victory, told to compare herself to a male standard (and a male that can’t even measure up to a good male standard). She gets what feels like a consolation prize she had to share.”

“It’s an insult. It’s robbery. It’s stealing everything wonderful about chasing wins, working toward an accomplishment, and celebrating the limits and successes of female athletes,” Jones added. 

“He is a mediocre male athlete. He gets to stand on the girl’s podium & be listed as the winner in the girls’ category because he misrepresents who he is,” Jennifer Sey, founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, the only athletic brand to support women athletes and their sports, wrote on X. 

“I blame CIF, @GavinNewsom, and the boy’s mother. They further the message that one boy’s feelings matter (more) than all girls’ hard work and the rights afforded them from Title IX,” she continued. 

Hundreds have chimed in on the controversial matter online as the CIF implemented its pilot program.  

President Trump criticized the state ahead of the championships and called for federal funding to be stripped for allowing male athletes in female sports. 

“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY allow ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS,'” Trump wrote on Truth Social, last week.

“THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS. Please be hereby advised that large-scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not totally adhered to,” the president concluded. 

The Journal of the Endocrine Society finds that teen males have 15 times the amount of testosterone circulating in their bodies than females who’ve gone through puberty. That means at least a 10% advantage in running and swimming and a 20% advantage in jumping events, according to the 2018 review. 

“He might be transitioned, but he is still a male,” said Mimi Israelah, who protested Hernandez’s performance. “It’s not fair for the women, and it is destroying women’s sports.” 

According to results posted by the CIF of the state championship, Hernandez’s performance not only places him fourth among other highschool girls in the triple jump, but ranks him 70th among all collegiate females competing in the same event. 

However, as HeCheated.org points out, Hernandez “does not even rank in the top 250 high school jumpers in the state of California” among males. 

“‘Trans’ is the celebration of male mediocrity and in doing so ignoring and failing to celebrate actual female athleticism,” the organization wrote on X.

Oregon

California is not the only state where trans athletes took victories from girls over the weekend. 

In Oregon, Reese Eckard of Sherwood High School and Alexa Anderson of Tigard High School refused to share their spot on the podium with a trans athlete during the state championship on Saturday.

The pair who competed in the high jump stepped off the podium and faced the opposite direction when the Ida B. Wells High School gave a medal for a fifth-place finish. The athlete previously competed in the boys’ category in 2023 and 2024, Fox News reports. 

Two girls who had to compete against a boy at the Oregon high jump state championships refused to step on the podium in protest.

They were punished and sent to the sidelines.

Gender ideology is male entitlement peddled as progressive.pic.twitter.com/2eDZQktJsS

— Genevieve Gluck (@WomenReadWomen) June 1, 2025

The moment, caught on video, has gone viral.

“Two female athletes in Oregon refused to stand on the podium because a boy was awarded a place,” wrote conservative women’s advocate Riley Gaines. “Girls have had enough.”

As CBN News reported, Gaines had to share the podium with Lia Thomas, formerly Will Thomas, when the trans athlete swam for the University of Pennsylvania. The two tied for fifth place in the NCAA’s 2022 women’s 200 freestyle.

Thomas later went on to take first place in the women’s 500 freestyle, becoming the first trans athlete to win an NCAA national championship. 

That moment galvanized Gaines’ resolve and launched her into advocacy. 

Minnesota

Gaines also pointed out how a trans-identifying female-dominated the Class 4A Softball Championship in Minnesota. 

“He pitched 14 shutout innings in back-to-back games to defeat the defending state champs,” she wrote on X. “14. Shutout. Innings.”

As CBN News reported, a sports advocacy group is suing Minnesota’s attorney general on behalf of three female softball players over a state policy that allows males to compete in female sports.

Alliance Defending Freedom, a non-profit legal group, is representing Female Athletes United (FAU) and the high school athletes. 

“Minnesota is failing its female athletes. The state is putting the rights of males ahead of females, telling girls their hard work may never be enough to win and that they don’t deserve fairness and safety,” said ADF legal counsel Suzanne Beecher. 

***Please sign up for CBN newsletters and download the CBN news app to ensure you receive the latest news.***

Get IPL 2025 match schedules, squads, points table, and live scores for CSK, MI, RCB, KKR, SRH, LSG, DC, GT, PBKS, and RR. Check the latest IPL Orange Cap and Purple Cap standings.