One of the hot-button topics that seems to get a lot of attention online recently is transgender athletes. Some people are for transgender athletes competing in women’s sports and others are against it, but either side is not afraid to debate.
Sometimes, a moment takes place in sports that really captures our attention, and that is what happened recently at a track meet. Reese Hogan, a high school athlete from Crean Lutheran High School took a stand, both literally and figuratively, and caught a lot of people’s attention.
Reese was competing at a track meet and finished second behind a competitor, who just so happened to be transgender. It happened at the CIF Southern Section Finals, and she lost out in the triple jump after a biological male, A.B. Hernandez bested her.
This caused a lot of people to be concerned about the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports, which is a topic that has been discussed endlessly in recent years. Hogan took things a step further, however, by returning to the podium after the medal ceremony and taking the top spot that was left vacant when Hernandes stepped down.
Hernandez jumped 4 feet further than Reese, winning after going the distance of 41 feet and 4 inches in the triple jump. In addition, Hernandez was victorious in the long jump competition and was seventh in the high jump. This allowed Hernandez to qualify for the CIF Southern Section Masters Meet, which will take place on the 24th.
After Reese took the stand and stood on the podium in the first place spot, it really showed her defiance of what was taking place. In addition, after Hernandez took first place in the triple jump, many people were up in arms and the debates began raging.
Jennifer Sey, founder of the advocacy group XX-XY commented on social media, saying: “This guy won the girls long jump and triple jump in a CA track meet over the weekend. He won the triple jump by 8ft. He’s really crushing it!”
Another comment came from Colin Rugg, the co-owner of the Trending Politics website. They wrote: “Wow, what an accomplishment. I’m sure it had nothing to do with being a biological male.”
This isn’t the first time that a transgender athlete has taken first place by a wide margin and sparked controversy. Undoubtedly, it is not going to be the last time we see it as well.
