Male athlete finishes in top 10 in girls’ cross-country event, pushing out a female

A junior varsity girls’ cross-country meet in California has set off a heated debate after a male runner finished in the top 10 and pushed a girl out of the standings.

The Nov. 7 Palomares League meet saw a male competitor who identifies as female from Claremont High finish in fourth, while an Ayala High School girl finished 11th, missing a podium spot by one place.

Ayala coaches say the result wasn’t fair to their runner, and that officials wouldn’t acknowledge her even though she was the 10th girl to cross the line. Ayala head coach Caroline Cobo said she asked for a simple adjustment. 

“During the awards, we asked if, when they called the top 10 for each category, that they could call up the top 11 for the JV girls’ race,” she said. “But they said no, they couldn’t.” 

“So we decided to stand up during that award ceremony and say, ‘Oh, and in 10th place,’ which, on paper, she was 11th, but in reality she was the 10th biological female to cross the finish line,” she added. 

Assistant coach Matthew Ullman said the moment drew a strong reaction from the Claremont team. 

“I got approached by about five or six of the girls from the team where the transgender athlete competes at, and [it was] pretty confrontational,” he said, noting the girls questioned him for using the term “biological female.” 

He said he told them, “Well, I needed to give credit where credit was due.” 

Claremont High School defended the posted results in a statement, saying it follows California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) and league rules. The statement said the league recognizes “only the top 10 finishers,” arguing Claremont “adheres to CIF and Palomares League rules and regulations.” 

But Ayala released its own statement saying the school is petitioning the league to recognize the top 11 athletes. It cited a CIF rule change made last spring in girls’ track and field that called for awarding a duplicate medal to the next-closest girl when a transgender athlete displaced a female competitor. 

The CIF adopted the change after national attention on Jurupa Valley male athlete AB Hernandez, who won multiple girls’ events last spring. The CIF later required girls who finished behind a biological male to be moved up one spot on the podium. 

Ayala officials say the same policy should apply here. League athletic directors will meet later this month to review the request.