A transgender runner on the Camas High School girls cross-country team, who has been at the center of political controversy in recent weeks, placed second at a district meet in Southwest Washington on Wednesday afternoon. She helped her team secure the district title.
The transgender runner, who The Seattle Times is not naming because she is a minor who has not given her consent to be identified, became the focus of online posts drawing attention to her participation on the girls team earlier this month. The transgender athlete competed in the boys category during the first race of the season before switching to the girls category in a Sept. 15 race and onward.
Last week, more than a dozen Camas runners walked off the start line in protest of their transgender teammate’s participation and others have decided to forgo the rest of their season. Opponents of transgender girls competing in youth sports organized a “Camas Courage” rally to support “girls’ sports and fair play” ahead of the district meet.
The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state’s governing body for interscholastic sports, has a longstanding policy that allows student-athletes to compete in the category consistent with their gender identity. Both the WIAA and school district have said the student’s participation has not violated any rules.
The Camas cross-country team’s postseason coincides with the final weeks of the campaign for a ballot initiative seeking to change the WIAA’s policy. Next month, Washington voters will weigh in on the policy’s future via Initiative 638, sponsored by Let’s Go Washington. If passed, the ballot measure titled “Defending Equity in Interscholastic Sports Act” would restrict participation in K-12 girls sports to biological girls and require students to submit medical documentation that verifies their “biological sex,” according to the initiative’s language.
The district meet was moved ahead of time from its usual location at Lewisville Regional Park to Camas due to the “controversial climate surrounding the cross-country community” and favorable safety conditions at the Camas location.
At the meet, there were designated sections where spectators could stand, primarily located near the start and finish area. Athletes and coaches gathered under tents that were separated from spectators by metal barricades and security.
Typically parents and other spectators have direct access to team areas and can cheer from various locations on the course. One pair of parents, who talked to their son from opposite sides of one of the metal barricades, remarked how limiting this meet’s setup felt as they prepared to cheer him on in the boys varsity race.
The measures were in line with what the Camas School District outlined in the cross-country weekly schedule sent out to families prior to the meet. In that communication, the school district said it expected “additional security measures, including a police presence and some separation between athletes and spectators.”
The Camas girls won the district meet despite competing without some of their varsity runners who opted to end their season early. One of those girls, a senior varsity captain, told The Seattle Times that she ended her season because she wanted to take a stand for “fairness in women's sports” and because of the pressure that mounted as the team was placed under a spotlight.
As athletes warmed up for their races, people gathered for the “Camas Courage” rally hosted in support of “girls’ sports and fair play,” per the rally’s poster. The gathering of approximately 80 people featured student and parent speakers who called on the crowd to vote yes on I-638.
Speakers at the rally, including Tumwater High School student Frances Staudt, applauded the Camas girls who walked off the start line of a dual meet on Oct. 13 in protest of their transgender teammate’s participation. Staudt, an advocate for restricting participation in girls K-12 sports to biological girls, told the crowd that it “took courage” for the Camas girls to decide to protest.
“More girls across our state need to do the same, and they need to stop competing,” Staudt said at the rally. “Lock arms in solidarity and say enough is enough.”
Sarah Burns, the parent of a Camas runner who walked off the start line at the Oct. 13 dual meet, also spoke at the rally.
“I am here today because I believe our girls deserve to have their voices heard,” Burns said into a microphone. “They should be able to focus on being teenagers and competing in the sports that they love, and not carrying the burden of fighting to be heard.”
Opponents of the ballot initiative say that, if passed, the measure will require invasive genital exams. Political activist and podcaster Brandi Kruse called those claims “lies” at Wednesday’s rally.
The language of the initiative states that any student seeking to participate in sports for “female students only” would need to provide a form verifying their biological sex through “student's reproductive anatomy, genetic makeup, or normal endogenously produced testosterone levels.”
John Gallagher, a spokesperson with the No Hate in WA State campaign, which opposes the ballot measure, said the initiative “sets up all female student-athletes to potentially be in a vulnerable, dangerous position” with genital exams he said they may find uncomfortable and warned that it might discourage girls from participating in sports altogether.
Gallagher, a former cross-country coach and educator based in Seattle, said that “this particular policy really does not solve anything” and added it makes him upset for all athletes, transgender or not, because “high school sports are meant to be about personal growth and becoming a better person and being a student-athlete.”
Some of the rally participants walked over to the cross-country course for the girls varsity race. The Seattle Times did not observe any of the runners participating in the district race walk off the start line. Spectators wearing “XX XY” shirts, referencing male and female chromosomes, were scattered throughout the crowd. One woman stood near the start line holding a “no trans in women's sports or locker room sign.
There were cheers of “go girls” as the runners from four teams readied themselves on the start line. “Shame on the boy,” one spectator called out.
The transgender athlete raced down the final stretch to cheers from some spectators and teammates, in addition to some boos. Applause and cheers followed the athlete’s name when they were announced as the girls’ varsity second-place finisher during the awards ceremony.
As the applause died down, one spectator standing on the other side of the metal barricade called out “that’s a boy.”
The Camas cross-country team will race in regionals at the end of this month where athletes will compete to qualify for the state championship. The state championship is set to take place on Nov. 7.
© 2026 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
