California male ranked national No. 1 in high school girls track 

A male California high school athlete who identifies as female has begun the 2026 outdoor season ranked No. 1 in the nation in the girls’ triple jump.

AB Hernandez, a senior at Jurupa Valley High School, holds the top national mark at 40 feet, 7.5 inches, according to Milesplit. Hernandez previously won California Interscholastic Federation state titles in the girls’ high jump and triple jump.

The ranking has reignited debate over whether males should be allowed to compete in girls’ sports. Last fall, at least eight girls’ volleyball teams forfeited matches against Jurupa Valley, which has Hernandez on its roster.

“The decision [to forfeit] was not about hatred or anything negative. Trans people still have rights, but not a right to play sports against the opposite sex,” Fred Brayton, the father of a Riverside Poly player, told reporters. “It is not about AB. It is about women need[ing] to play against other women. It is about boys participating in girls’ sports.

“The small minority of the community that thinks we are discriminating have it wrong. You can be trans all day long, but you can’t be a boy and play girl sports. You can still go about being trans, but probably need to focus on that and not playing sports against the opposite sex.”

Hernandez has pushed back on claims of competitive advantage, especially after taking third and eighth place at an event last year.

“All I thought was, I don’t think you understand that this puts your idiotic claims to trash. ‘She can’t be beat because she’s biologically male.’ Now you have no proof that I can’t be beat,” the athlete told Capital and Main.

Three of Hernandez’s current and former teammates have filed suit against Jurupa Unified, the California Interscholastic Federation and the California Department of Education.

“Plaintiffs have been intimidated by an intentionally hostile environment created by Defendants wherein they were bullied by school officials to censor their objections to competing with, and against, a male and to sharing intimate and private spaces with a male,” the lawsuit says.

Jurupa Unified has cited state law in response to critics.

“School districts do not write laws for the state of California, nor do they have the power to ignore them or change them,” the district argued.

California allows athletes to compete based on gender identity, rather than biological sex. A February 2025 executive order from President Donald Trump directs federal agencies to withhold funding from states and schools that permit males in girls’ sports.

An April 2025 NBC News poll found 75% of Americans oppose male trans athletes competing in women’s sports, while 25% support it.

For many families, the dispute centers on whether schools will defend fairness for girls or continue policies parents say ignore basic biological reality.