As the CIF State Track and Field Finals in Clovis approach this weekend, the AB Hernandez story has gone global and Donald Trump has led the charge against her in a posting today (5/27). The President wrote about Hernandez: “As a Male, he was a less than average competitor. As a Female, this transitioned person is practically unbeatable. THIS IS NOT FAIR AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS.”
The UK’s Daily Mail picked up a piece of dismal journalism from the NY Post on May 22 that features the complaints of two athletes who have recently competed against Hernandez and protested vehemently when they lost to her. The premise of Trump’s posting and these articles is that AB Hernandez represents a looming crisis in women’s sports as a large array of “biologically male” athletes will come to dominate women’s sports and deprive the next generation of female athletes a chance to compete fairly and enjoy the fruits of victory.
The two female athletes who have received a lot of attention over the past few days because they feel it is unfair that they must compete against a “biological boy” do not provide compelling evidence in support of their complaint. These two young female athletes are Reese Hogan of Crean Lutheran High School and Katie McGuinness of La Cañada High School. The Hogan complaint is easy to dismiss. The McGuinness story is a little more complex.
Reese Hogan is simply a poor sport who appears to be most interested in becoming the center of attention in the attack on transgender identity that is behind the assault on Hernandez. She recently got national attention after ascending to the 1st -place podium even though she took second to Hernandez in the triple-jump.
The problem is that young Ms. Hogan was competing against the best female triple-jumper in the state, and Reese is nowhere near being that. Her jump at the competition measured 37’2” and set not only a personal record but also a school record. That nevertheless is far from what it would take to be ranked among the best in the state. Ms. Hogan would need to add more than 2.5’ to her jump to be ranked in the top 5 in the state. There are probably dozens of female triple-jumpers in the state with better jumps than Ms. Hogan. She should be embarrassed, but evidently humility and sportsmanship are not virtues pursued by the staff at Crean Lutheran High School.
The so-called journalists who write these stories up should be even more embarrassed. They are the adults feeding the anti-trans hysteria and giving these teenagers a forum to further it as if they are the ones being persecuted.
Here are the top five Triple Jumps in California this year, according to Athletic.net. The national high school female record is 44’-11 ¼ ”. AB Hernandez is very good, but far from the best high school female triple-jumper ever!
Unlike Reese Hogan, Katie McGuinness is an elite athlete; but her story too seems to contain a certain amount of opportunism. McGuinness of La Cañada is the number one ranked girls long jumper in the state, having beaten AB Hernandez at the recent CIF southern sectional finals and having set the best mark in the state in doing so at 20’4”. As such, she enters the state CIF Finals as the favorite to win it all.
The following week, however, McGuinness lost to Hernandez with a jump of 18’9”. She said, “I ran down the runway and I landed and I watched them measure my mark, and it was 18.9. And I just remember thinking that there was nothing else that I could do.” What about jumping like you did a week earlier? Who is being more dishonest here, the student athlete or the journalist?
Here are the current state rankings heading into the CIF state finals, according to Athletic.net. The high school female long jump record was set a decade ago at 22’5”. AB is very beatable in this event, but only if you are good enough!
Again, it is difficult to know whether to blame the young women for jumping to the spotlight in a compelling though fundamentally dishonest story or to blame what passes for journalism in the adult world.
I am not a journalist and it is possible that I have misunderstood some facts here. I very much invite your corrections and admonitions. Really! Am I missing something?
Here is the current effort of CIF to mitigate this crisis. It seems more of a surrender of principle than a reasonable compromise.
AB’s poise and focus are even more admirable in comparison to these shameful shenanigans. She sets an example of hard work, maturity, and integrity that other student athletes (and adults!) would do well to emulate.
Great to see real journalism!
You are absolutely correct.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/columnist/nancy-armour/2025/05/28/trump-puts-teenager-risk-california-track-meet/83885094007/
Here’s a good article on the topic by someone who has been covering it for a while.
What defines “Trans” in the case of AB Hernandez? Hormone therapy? Has he undergone a sex change surgery?
If Hernandez can take female hormones, shouldn’t his young women competitors be able to take MALE hormones to make it even?
If Hernandez takes hormones, it should disqualify him because athletes are regularly tested for steroids and such.
In the long past, some boys that were promising opera stars castrated themselves. They had the strength of a man but kept their high range singing voice.
If Hernandez wants to compete equally with women, he should play the piano, like Vern..