A parent of a female high school runner who lost to a high school boy at Saturday’s California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) race blasted the idea of boys competing in girls’ sports.
Athena Ryan, a junior from Sonoma Academy who claims he is a girl, finished second in the race; the top three finishers qualified for the California Interscholastic Federation State Track & Field Championships next week. He boasted after the race, “I wasn’t expecting that. I dropped like 17 seconds on my season’s best in the past two weeks. After last weekend, I didn’t think I could run low 5’s again. I was just coming here trying to break 5 – just glad I finished it out.”
“I’m absolutely opposed to it. There’s no way this should be allowed,” the parent told Fox News Digital. “Ryan was in like fifth place with 100 to go, and all of a sudden he… blew past the girls.”
“How do you not understand that that’s unfair?” the parent continued. “I 100% percent empathize with the need to belong and the desire to compete. [However,] you have to understand how hard these girls work to do this. You’re cheating [the sport], like the narcissism of this whole thing.”
The parent intimated that the girl competitors were reticent to speak out, saying, “The student athletes’ reactions are very tempered and controlled as much as they can because they’re not allowed to show any reaction whatsoever to potentially not affirm what is happening. We’ve been advised that anything that potentially can come off as bullying is a code of conduct violation. And so by CIF rules [the girls are] unable to speak out about this.”
The bullying policy also targets parents from voicing their disapproval, the parent noted, saying that if they did so, that would be considered bullying.
“As a former CA state champion high jumper, I think this is complete and utter nonsense. I’m embarrassed for our state and feel sorry for the girls who were cheated in the process,” Darren Marble, who won the California state championship in the high jump in 1998, tweeted.
“Security removed women from the field seen holding signs in support of girls in the sectional meet,” reported the Independent Council on Women’s Sports, which describes itself as a “network of women athletes & our supporters advocating for female protected categories in sport,” adding “Many parents were completely unaware there was a boy competing in girls races.”
Security removed women from the field seen holding signs in support of girls in the sectional meet. Many parents were completely unaware there was a boy competing in girls races. Others, were appreciative that they were there when they themselves felt silenced. @WomenAreReals… pic.twitter.com/Vd4MXN6RDp
— ICONS (@icons_women) May 21, 2023