A cross country runner switched to the girls team midseason, parents voice their disapproval at meet
"Nobody wants to talk to you. I'm trying to be nice."
That was the not-so-nice greeting I got from a Camas High assistant cross country coach in Arlington, Washington on Saturday. It came as I stood near the start line for the Women's Elite 5k race at the Nike Hole in the Wall High School XC Invitational.
All I had done at that point was try to introduce myself, but it was clear that everybody involved with the school was on guard. The reason? One of the Camas runners entered in the Women's Elite 5K was a biological male.
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What's unique about this particular trans athlete is that he started the year on the boys team — with which he finished 76th in a JV race — then switched to the girls team last month. He has since taken first place in a varsity meet and finished second in a different invitational.
This, as you might imagine, has sparked national attention, putting everyone at Camas on the defensive. But that assistant was wrong about one thing: Lots of people — mainly parents from opposing schools — wanted to talk to me.
"We're about as liberal as it gets. I just don't agree with that [boys competing against girls]. I mean, if they find your body in 300 years, what are they going to say you were," said Kent Lake of Lake Stevens, WA. "Look, you can live any way you want. You got my blessing. But I mean come on, in competitions? It's like stock car racing. It's gotta be even, and it's gotta be fair."
What prompted the Camas runner to switch from the boys to the girls team remains unclear. No Camas coach would talk (although one, along with a school administrator, was gracious to me), and the boy's mother wouldn't acknowledge my presence Saturday.
But such a switch is permitted under the rules of the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), which governs high school sports in the state. That doesn't mean most parents like it.
"When I first heard about this story, I was like, 'Is this real? That can't be real'," said a mother of a cross country runner, who requested anonymity. She argued that allowing transgender runners to compete against girls could deprive female athletes of victories they otherwise would have earned. "We have daughters, and it's robbing them of an opportunity to compete."
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It should be noted that the Camas runner isn't a star, even among girls. He finished 39th in a field of 135 in Saturday's race with a time of 18:36.8. But had he run in the Men's Elite 5K, he would have placed last out of 159 runners by a good 30 seconds.
Said one parent, also requesting anonymity. "Whether they finish first, 40th or 90th, they're still taking the spot of a girl."
The anonymous route is the one that most chose last Saturday. One man wouldn't even let me record his voice — I had to repeat his quote into my phone using my own voice. This, after all, may be the most sensitive, contentious issue there is in sports. And ... not all the parents at Saturday's meet were necessarily against the Camas runner.
One said, "People can identify however they want. High school sports isn't about winning, it's about student athletes building confidence."
Another said, "There are more important things in sports than that [issue]."
A third said, "I just wish people could have more empathy and compassion and understanding for people. I do think it's tricky if you start on one team and midseason change. I wish there was a space for everyone."
Most, however, were like Kevin Ess, an Arlington High parent who had a compassionate but firm take on the matter.
"I think men and women, young men and young women, have been competing for hundreds of years, thousands of years, separately," Ess said. "I think it's an interesting experiment. I think it's an interesting topic, but my personal opinion is that they should continue to compete separately."
One father said something similar after lifting his hoodie to reveal the XX-XY shirt he was sporting underneath.
Another said allowing boys to compete with girls was "stupid" and that "Title IX was designed to protect women."
A mother said, "I would be so embarrassed to put my son in a position like this." And though part of me agrees with that last part, part of me also wonders if it's a little harsh.
I was genuinely curious about what the past few weeks have been like for the Camas runner's parents, but the mother completely ignored me on two separate attempts to talk. This was the same woman who reportedly started recording an athlete who protested the Camas runner last month by walking off the start line when the gun went off.
That athlete was Skyview High junior Charlie Garrett, who staged the walk-off alongside teammate Sierra Retzlaff. Both wore body paint saying "Keep women in women's sports" that mid-September day — and both were on hand at Saturday's event as well.
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"Why is it so important for you to speak out on this topic?"
Retzlaff said: "Because if we don't, no one else will. If we start something, maybe others will have the courage to join."
Fortunately, there have been other girls and women who have spoken on this issue from Washington state and beyond. In fact, such courage helped get Initiative 638 — which would ban biological males from competing against girls in K-12 sports — on the Nov. 3 ballot in Washington state.
The situation in Camas could very well mobilize people to vote.
As one mother said Saturday: "There needs to be more work done to change the law, because schools are kind of tied to what the law is telling them to do. People need to get out and vote for what they want."