17-year-old Verónica Garcia became the first trans track and field state champion in Washington history when she won the 400-meter event in 2024. On Saturday, she became a two-time victor.

Garcia beat her own time from last year, winning the race in 55.70 seconds. And just like at last year’s ceremony, she was booed as she stepped to the podium to accept her medal.

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Trump targeted a trans teen athlete. Her opponents embraced her when she won first place.
She won first place in her state high jump and triple jump championships after Trump threatened to arrest her for competing.

Athletes from a rival school wore black T-shirts that read “Keep Women’s Sports Female,” and as Garcia warmed up before the event, a man near the starting blocks wore an American flag shirt that read “Save women’s sports.” He shouted “Let’s go, girls!” and “Girls’ race!” as she prepared to run.

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She heard the heckles, Garcia said, but she didn’t let it negatively affect her performance. Instead, she used it as fuel, she told the Seattle Times.

“I’ll be honest, I kind of expect it,” Garcia said. “But maybe it didn’t have their intended effect. It made me angry, but not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I’m going to push.”

She beat her nearest competitor by nearly a second.

That opponent held a sign on the podium declaring herself the “real” winner.

“I’m really proud of myself,” Garcia added. “I did what I came to do, and that’s good enough for me.”

And Garcia had a message for the haters.

“I’m going to put this in the most PG-13 way. I’m just going to say it’s a damn shame they don’t have anything else better to do. I hope they get a life. But oh well. It just shows who they are as people.”

A Washington State law allowing student transgender athletes to participate in school sports consistent with their gender identity has been in place since 2007. It was the first policy of its kind in the country.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association estimates there are five to 10 transgender student-athletes among the 250,000 in the state.

President Donald Trump issued his executive order “Keeping Men out of Women’s Sports” in February and has opened multiple investigations into local school districts and state athletic associations, threatening to withhold federal funds for states with inclusive student-athlete policies.

In March, the Department of Education announced an investigation of Washington State’s Tumwater School District and its decision to allow a transgender student athlete on the opposing team to participate in a basketball game.

Trump has called trans student-athletes’ participation in girls’ sports “totally demeaning to women and girls.”

Following her first victory in the 400 last year, Garcia urged those opposed to trans athletes to just behave with some dignity.

“At the very least, give us respect,” she told The Spokesman-Review, “because I think the best thing anyone can do is, even if you don’t understand why we’re transgender, the very least is to be nice to us. Kindness goes a long way.”

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