California Interscholastic Federation Changes Rules for Track & Field Championships After Trump Tweet

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump posted a statement on Truth Social threatening to pull federal funding from California schools if a transgender student athlete is allowed to compete at this weekend’s state track and field championships. Shortly afterward, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF), which oversees high school sports in the state, said in a statement that it was changing its qualifying policy to allow “biological girls” that did not qualify for the championship to compete. 

The athlete President Trump is referring to is AB Hernandez, a 16-year-old trans girl who is expected to compete this weekend in the events for long jump, triple jump and high jump. CIF’s new policy does not prevent Hernandez from participating. 

“California, under the leadership of Radical Left Democrat Gavin Newscum, continues to ILLEGALLY all ‘MEN TO PLAY IN WOMEN’S SPORTS.’ This week a transitioned Male athlete, at a major event won ‘everything’ and is now qualified to compete in ‘State Finals’ next weekend,” Trump wrote. Hernandez is a trans girl, not a male. She did not win “everything” last weekend — on May 19 she won first place in long jump and triple jump, and tied for fourth place in the high jump.

The California Interscholastic Federation told Capital & Main in an emailed statement that it would change the rules for qualification following Trump’s remarks this morning. In past championships, student athletes were required to meet qualifying marks at preliminary and divisional events to participate in the state championships. 

Now, under a new “pilot entry process” for this year’s event, “Any biological female student-athlete who would have earned the next qualifying mark for one of their Section’s automatic qualifying entries in the CIF State meet, and did not achieve CIF State at-large mark in the finals at their Section meet was extended an opportunity to participate in the 2025 CIF Track and Field Championships.” This means that girls who did not meet the criteria to compete at the championships at the divisional finals will still be invited. 

The CIF did not respond to Capital & Main’s inquiries on how it defines “biological woman,” or how it would verify that the children at the event meet its standard. It did not confirm whether this change was in response to Hernandez.  

“CIF’s proposed pilot is a reasonable, respectful way to navigate a complex issue without compromising competitive fairness — a model worth pursuing. The Governor is encouraged by this thoughtful approach,” Izzy Gardon, director of communications for the Governor’s Office, said in a statement. 

Elana Redfield, federal policy director at UCLA’s Williams Institute, which studies sexual orientation and gender identity law, said CIF’s new mandate may violate state and federal law. “The problem is that to separate girls into two different categories and say some of them get this extra leg up and others don’t is potentially in conflict with all kinds of laws, including California’s School Success and Opportunity Act, Californian’s nondiscrimination law, California’s state Constitution and even the U.S. Constitution.” 

In his Truth Social post, Trump continued: “Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on the subject matter is not adhered to …. I am ordering local authorities, if necessary, to not allow the transitioned person to compete in State Finals.” 

In February, Trump banned transgender women and girls from college women’s and high school girls’ sports teams. The California Interscholastic Federation said in response that it would continue to allow trans athletes to compete under existing California law. Shortly afterwards, the U.S. Department of Education announced a Title IX investigation into CIF for its policy allowing transgender high school athletes to play girls’ sports. Title IX is a federal law aimed at preventing gender discrimination in education.

Trump also said in his post Tuesday that he would speak with California Gov. Gavin Newsom to “find out which way he wants to go.” The governor’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Newsom recently featured right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk on his podcast, during which Kirk said of Hernandez: “It is an issue of fairness — it’s deeply unfair.” Newsom told Kirk, “I am not wrestling with the fairness issue. I totally agree with you.”

Nereyda Hernandez, AB’s mother, said in a statement that her heart breaks “every time I see my child being attacked, not for wrongdoing, but simply for being who they are … That is not the America I believe in. President Trump, I invite you to set aside your Bible and your politics. This is not in rejection of faith or policy, but in recognition that neither should be used as weapons of harm. I respectfully request you to open your heart and mind to learn about the LGBTQ+ community, not from the voices of fear or division, but from the people living these lives with courage, love, and dignity. As a leader of this country, you have the power to unite, to educate, and to uplift rather than destroy.”

Trump similarly threatened Maine Gov. Janet Mills earlier this year to withhold federal funding as punishment for allowing trans athletes to compete, which resulted in the state losing access to several sources of federal funds for a state program providing meals to schoolchildren. The administration agreed to a settlement to unfreeze the funds after Maine sued to maintain them. The Trump administration has also filed a lawsuit against the Maine Department of Education for allowing trans athletes to compete.

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