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EXCLUSIVE: California’s track and field state championship will be an epicenter for political tension this weekend. A family with a daughter trying to win a title is “grateful” to the White House taking notice but not satisfied with where things stand going into the event.
President Donald Trump called out the Golden State and Gov. Gavin Newsom in a Truth Social post on Tuesday morning, threatening to cut funding to the state and even send authorities to intervene if a trans-identifying athlete competes in the girls’ category at the meet.
Just hours later, the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) announced it would make a slight rule change for this weekend’s championship. The change allows biologically female athletes who fell just shy of qualifying for the championship behind a trans athlete a chance to compete for the title this weekend.
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Katie McGuinness of La Canada High School finished seventh in the women’s high jump invitational in Arcadia, Calif., on April 12, 2025. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, La Canada High School star Katie McGuinness looks to compete for the girls’ long jump championship after qualifying automatically last weekend. But McGuinness has so far only managed to finish behind the trans athlete at postseason events this year, including the sectional final on May 17, when she finished second to her Jurupa Valley opponent.
The McGuinness family addressed the president’s intervention in the situation in an exclusive statement to Fox News Digital.
“We are grateful that President Trump is fighting for female athletes and giving them a fair shot to compete on a level playing field. CIF’s ‘solution’ to this situation, which allows additional girls to compete at the state championship who otherwise didn’t qualify because the transgender athlete took their spot, isn’t good enough – it’s still an unfair competition and an injustice to the girls competing,” the family said in a statement.
“Allowing biological males to compete in women’s sports is unfair, unjust and defies common sense,” the family added.
Katie previously spoke out against CIF for allowing the situation to get this far in an interview on Fox News’ “America Reports” last week.
“I have nothing against this athlete as a person, and I have nothing against the trans community,” McGuinness said. “My message today is really specifically to CIF and for them to act quickly and in a timely manner, because this is a really time-sensitive issue.”
The La Canada star also recounted the experience of facing the athlete and facing apparent “genetic” disadvantages in a high-stakes high school competition.
“I remember thinking to myself, ‘OK, I need to get a big jump,’” McGuinness said.
CALIFORNIA HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETES ALLEGE TRACK MEET OFFICIALS FORCED THEM TO TAKE OFF ‘PROTECT GIRLS SPORTS’ SHIRTS
Katie McGuinness of La Canada High School finished seventh in the women’s high jump invitational in Arcadia, Calif., on April 12, 2025. (Keith Birmingham/MediaNews Group/Pasadena Star-News via Getty Images)
“I ran down the runway and I landed, and I watched them measure my mark, and it was 18.9,” she said. “And I just remember thinking that there was nothing else that I could do. That was it. And I was honestly very discouraged, and I’m a high school senior, and winning CIF has always been a goal of mine, and I wasn’t able to compete with someone who was genetically different than me.”
She made her overall stance on the issue clear.
“There are just certain genetic advantages that biological males have that biological girls don’t,” she said. “Frankly, I just can’t stand for that.”
The trans athlete has dominated the girls’ postseason this year in the triple jump and long jump and is set to compete for the state title on Saturday. The athlete competes for Jurupa Valley High School in Riverside County, California, a community that has been rocked by multiple controversies involving trans athletes, including a lawsuit involving a separate situation at Martin Luther King High School.
The CIF is already under a federal Title IX investigation by the U.S. Department of Education.
After Trump signed the No Men’s in Women’s Sports executive order on Feb. 5, the CIF was one of the first high school sports leagues in the country to announce it would not follow the order but instead comply with California’s state law.
Trans athletes have been allowed to compete as women and girls since 2014, when a law called AB 1266 went into effect after passing in 2013.
The state legislature failed to pass two bills that would reverse this policy on April 1, despite the testimony of multiple female athletes and their families in California who have been affected by the issue.
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Newsom addressed the issue during an episode of his podcast in early March.
“Well, I think it’s an issue of fairness,” Newsom told guest conservative influencer Charlie Kirk. “I completely agree with you on that. It’s deeply unfair.
“So that’s easy to call out the unfairness of that. There’s also a humility and a grace … these poor people are more likely to commit suicide, have anxiety and depression, and the way that people talk down to vulnerable communities is an issue that I have a hard time with as well.”
Newsom’s office has since provided a statement supporting the CIF’s decision to amend its eligibility policy for the championship event this weekend.
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