Coaches speak out after male athlete dominates girls' track meet: 'Injustice'
Two Washington state track coaches are speaking out after a male athlete identifying as a female "blew the competition away" during a recent state meet where he competed against girls.
Brad Anderson is the head track coach for the boys' team at Liberty High School in King County, Washington, while Jason Keniston is the head track coach for the girls' team at the same high school. During the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, trans-identifying athlete Veronica Garcia of East Valley Spokane High School won first place during the girls' 400-meter race with a time of 55.59.
The Independent Women's Forum, an organization that advocates for fairness in female athletics, published an interview Tuesday with the two head track coaches, who expressed hope that other instructors would do the same and speak out.
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Keniston revealed that he was initially afraid to speak on the subject, as doing so comes with the risk of losing one's livelihood and being labeled as a "bigot" by trans activists. However, the girls' track coach said he and Anderson are speaking out because "we actually just care about kids, and we want what's best for everybody."
"There's a large group that stands against this; however, they're like most, where we feel the need to hide under this mask of going along with it out of fear that if you are willing to just speak up and say what you believe, even just your opinion, there is going to be a repercussion," Keniston said.
As IWF noted, Garcia competed in the boy's 5,000-meter JV race and placed 164th out of 172 in October 2022. According to Keniston, the male athlete just "blew the competition away" when he competed against girls during the May 2024 state meet, winning by at least 30 to 40 meters.
"How can anyone think this is fair, regardless of the politics of our world and our country?" he asked.
Anderson told the women's advocacy group that Garcia's win in the girls' 400-meter race gave his high school 10 points, noting that the issue was "really right in your face at state." Keniston added that the trans-identifying athlete helped East Valley Spokane win the meet by eight points, but he feels that the school shouldn't have won.
The girls' head track coach argued that another high school that had to settle for second place should have won the state meet.
"Their coaches and everyone who gave everything to their program deserved a title, and they'll never get that," the coach said.
Anderson added that allowing trans-identifying athletes to compete against girls is not only resulting in unfair "wins," but it's also "hurting a whole school community now." The track coach asserted that, while the girls at East Valley Spokane had a "great season," their female athletes should have won second place. Both coaches also could not help but notice that the female athletes forced to compete against Garcia were no match for the male runner.
"[One] girl just put a heck of a time on the board –– great time –– and she still loses. That was hard to watch," Anderson said.
"When you come down to a sport, an endurance sport especially, I think the numbers always speak pretty clearly that biological males are faster, and I just don't know how you can argue otherwise," the track coach said. "There's a difference. [To] say there's not is an injustice."
East Valley Spokane High School did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
Former NCAA athlete and women's sports advocate Riley Gaines commented on the outcome in a May 25 X post, sarcastically responding to the claim from some trans activists that male athletes who identify as female are not dominating women's sports.
"Would you look at that ... the thing that never happens happened again," Gaines wrote. "Veronica Garcia (Donovan Brown) just won the Washington State Championship in the girls' 400m in total domination."
"In Washington & Oregon this past week, the fastest 'girl' in the each state has been a boy," she added.
Aayden Gallagher, a sophomore at McDaniel High School in Portland, Oregon, competed as a girl at the Portland Interscholastic League Championship in May and became the Oregon Girls’ 6A 200-meter state champion. The crowd booed as he crossed the finish line.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
