Transgender athlete AB Hernandez wins two more Cal state track titles
AB Hernandez, a transgender athlete at Jurupa Valley High School, warms up for the girls triple jump in Clovis (Fresno County) on Friday. She finished first in two events at the meet.Stephen Lam/S.F. ChronicleAB Hernandez, a transgender athlete from Jurupa Valley High School, practices for the high jump Friday at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis (Fresno County).Stephen Lam/S.F. ChronicleAB Hernandez, a transgender athlete and senior at Jurupa Valley High School, smiles as she is greeted by family friend Trevor Norcross after the first day of the 106th California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Track & Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif., Friday, May 29, 2026.Stephen Lam/S.F. ChronicleAB Hernandez, a transgender athlete and senior at Jurupa Valley High School, is seen during the girls high jump preliminary at the 106th California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Track & Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif., Friday, May 29, 2026.Stephen Lam/S.F. ChronicleAB Hernandez, a transgender athlete and senior at Jurupa Valley High School, runs between the triple jump and high jump preliminaries at the 106th California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Track & Field Championships at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Clovis, Calif., Friday, May 29, 2026.Stephen Lam/S.F. ChronicleAB Hernandez, 17, concluded her high school track and field career Saturday with two more California Interscholastic Federation state championships, successfully defending her first-place medals in the high jump and triple jump from the previous year. Now a four-time CIF state champion, the senior out of Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County also finished third in the long jump. “I’m not gonna celebrate too hard,” Hernandez said in an interview for the Chronicle. “I have grad night tomorrow.”Hernandez has won seven state medals in the girls division, dating back to her sophomore year. Six of those were duplicated in accordance with a CIF “pilot” policy that was introduced when she was a junior. The policy effectively states that a cisgender girl who might otherwise be “displaced” by Hernandez, a transgender girl, would receive the same medal.Article continues below this adHernandez dominated the triple jump, soaring 42 feet, 8.75 inches — well ahead of co-state champion Daniela Hughes, a Los Altos senior who jumped 41-1. Hughes, a Cal commit, put her arm around Hernandez as they posed for photos atop the triple jump podium.In the high jump, Hernandez cleared 5-10, a height that familiar foe Lelani Laruelle of Monta Vista-Cupertino failed to clear. Hernandez subsequently fell short of her three attempts at 6-0, and for the second year in a row, Hernandez and Laruelle stood side-by-side on the high jump podium with respective first-place medals.San Francisco Chronicle LogoMake us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.“I mean, it was fun, I’m neutral,” Laruelle said. “I feel like there’s no other way to do it. She’s been a real good competitor.”Article continues below this adHernandez shared her third-place podium finish for the long jump, in which her best attempt was 20-2.25, with St. Mary’s-Berkeley junior Corinne Jones, whose medaled jump was 19-9.5.“We’ve competed against each other for like years,” Hernandez said of her peers. “I feel like all of the Southern Section girls, we’re all super close and then we just included all the other sections. We’re like super close.”Veterans Memorial Stadium at Buchanan High School, home of the CIF state track and field meet, has become a political hotspot in recent years. A year ago, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding from California if the CIF allowed Hernandez to compete among her peers in the girls division, centering her in the national issue of transgender athletes’ participation in sports.In place of Trump’s two cents this year, two of the top candidates for California governor, Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Tom Steyer respectively opposed and co-signed Hernandez’s continued inclusion in California girls high school sports.Before she was publicly outed as a transgender girl, Hernandez secured a third-place medal in the triple jump at the 2024 state meet. No protests occurred.Article continues below this adThen in October of 2025, former Jurupa Valley physical education teacher Jessica Tapia doxxed the teen with a series of Instagram posts. To dox means to expose one’s personal information online without consent. The school reportedly fired Tapia in January of 2023 for not addressing trans and nonbinary students by their preferred pronouns, which was a violation of district policy.Sonja Shaw, school board president of the Chino Valley Unified School District, added on to the doxxing in February of 2025 by posting Hernandez’s full name and high school on Instagram.Two transgender athletes qualified for the CIF track meet in 2023, Sonoma Academy-Santa Rosa’s Athena Ryan and Buckley-Sherman Oaks’ Lorelei Barrett, but opted not to participate because of safety concerns. AB Hernandez’s mom, Nereyda Hernandez, told the Chronicle last summer that AB did not consider skipping the 2025 state championships. Hernandez subsequently finished first in the high jump and triple jump and second in the long jump last year amid protests.The Trump administration's Executive Order 14201, titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” came out on Feb. 5, 2025, and led to an NCAA ban on transgender athlete participation in women’s sports the next day.Article continues below this adHernandez remains undecided on her college plans. “Hopefully (my decision) comes to a conclusion soon,” she said.
