Male Runner Costs High School Girl Chance At State Track Meet

A transgender athlete will advance to the state championships after placing second at a California track meet on Saturday, Daily Mail reported.

Athena Ryan, a transgender athlete from Sonoma Academy, ran the second-best time in the 1600-meter race at the CIF-North Coast Section Meet of Champions, according to Daily Mail. Ryan will advance to the California Interscholastic Federation State Track & Field Championships along with the first- and the third-place finisher, displacing fourth-place finisher Adeline Johnson from Branson High School from competing.

Video of the podium, posted by women’s advocacy group Independent Council on Women’s Sports (ICONS), shows Johnson giving a quick thumbs-down motion with her hand before stepping up on the fourth-place block.

“I wasn’t expecting that,” Ryan, who ran a 4:55.91, told MileSplit after the race. “I’ve dropped like 17 seconds on my season best in the past two weeks so after last weekend I didn’t think I could run low 5s again. I was just coming here trying to break 5 and I’m just glad I finished it out.”

Women Are Real, an advocacy group that pushes back against policies that allow biological males in female spaces, protested at the track meet with a sign that read “Protect Female Sports,” according to a video posted on Twitter. The group was told by one attendee that their sign was “offensive,” while others told them “thank you” and gave high-fives.

The group was later escorted from the venue by security, video shows.

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) permits athletes to compete in the division that matches their genderidentity, according to its “Guidelines for Gender Identity Participation.”

“All students should have the opportunity to participate in CIF activities in a manner that is consistent with their gender identity, irrespective of the gender listed on a student’s records,” it reads. “The student and/or the student’s school may seek review of the student’s eligibility for participation in interscholastic athletics in a gender that does not match the gender assigned to him or her at birth, via the following procedure below should either the student or the school have questions or need guidance in making the determination.”

Sonoma Academy, The Branson School, CIF-North Coast Section, CIF, ICONS and Women Are Real did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

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