Transgender female cross-country runner dominating new competition after struggling against boys

A year after finishing in 72nd place as a freshman in a boys cross-country race, the now-sophomore transgender female is dominating her new competition.

The Seattle Academy student, a 5,000-meter runner, has two victories, including one in a conference championship, and three top-two finishes in eight races this season, having not finished worse than 22nd place. As an identified male, the student never finished ahead of 25th place.

On Nov. 5, she ran in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) 1A State Finals in Washington, finishing her race in 18th place with a time of 20:31.3. Had the sophomore competed in the boys division, her time would have given her a 145th-place finish.

In last year’s Emerald South Conference Championships, the student, then a male, finished in 72nd place in the boys division with a 20:40.6 time. This year, now competing as a girl, she finished in first place with a time of 19:14.5, a school record.

Last year, the runner finished in 134th place at the 14th annual Twilight XC Invitational at 19:46.50. This year, she came in 12th place, finishing just 2.6 seconds faster.

“Allowing [the student] to compete against biological girls deprives other girls’ teams of the chance to compete at state [which is a big deal],” a coach in the student’s conference told Libs of TikTok. “If [she] competed in the boys division, [she] would place 56th on the boys team.”

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“[The student] is larger than any of the girl, and shamelessly takes first place on the podium,” another father told the outlet. “Now my daughter is competing against a male for scholarships. And we can’t even say anything. You can’t even approach it in a nice way without being labeled a hateful bigot. You will get threats against you.”

In 2007, the WIAA adopted the International Olympic Committee’s position that transgender people can participate in sports in their reassigned gender as long as they had undergone surgery and had a minimum of two years of hormone treatments. Eleven years later, the association then updated its stance, saying a male-to-female student “must have one calendar year of medically documented testosterone suppression therapy to be eligible to participate on a female team.”

Last year, though, the WIAA eliminated all requirements of medical evaluation, stating that athletes can participate in activities in “a manner that is consistent with their gender identity.”

“Athletes will participate in programs consistent with their gender identity or the gender most consistently expressed,” they said. “School personnel responsible for student eligibility will work collaboratively with the student-athlete to determine eligibility.”

WIAA released a statement to Fox News Digital pointing to the league’s “gender identity eligibility rules.”

“WIAA Gender Identity eligibility rules, which have been in place for more than 13 years, follow Washington state non-discrimination laws which protects full access to athletic activities for students,” the statement reads. “Federal law under Title IX also requires equal treatment for all participants, regardless of gender identity. Additionally, these policies reflect the core value of the Association to maximize participation in education-based athletics, which provide the safest and most meaningful opportunities for students to engage with and represent their school.”

“The full WIAA policies are outlined in 18.6.0 of the handbook,” the statement continues. “Because athlete eligibility is determined at the school level, the WIAA created a Gender-Diversity Toolkit to both educate and support local administrators and communities through the eligibility process. The toolkit was created with the help and support of professional sports teams in Washington state and has since been recognized and utilized by sport organizations around the country.”

“The role of the WIAA is to support all member schools as well as all student-athletes that represent them and the Association will continue to do so,” the statement reads.

Gavin Tucker, head cross-country coach at Seattle Academy, did not respond for comment.