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California girls track athlete Reese Hogan received praise on social media over the weekend when she briefly popped onto the first-place marker during the podium ceremony and posed for a photo after she lost to a transgender athlete in the triple jump.
Hogan, an athlete from Crean Lutheran High School, set a personal record and school record in the triple jump at 37 feet, 2 inches during the meet on Saturday. She was competing in Division 3 of the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Southern Section Finals.
The transgender athlete from Jurupa Valley High School defeated Hogan by more than 4 feet. The athlete also won the long jump competition.
Hogan, with a medal around her neck, smiled as she stepped up to the first-place spot once the ceremony was finished. The junior received massive cheers in the video that circulated around social media and praised her as the “real champion.”
The 16-year-old was among those who told Fox News Digital last week that CIF officials made her and her fellow athletes remove their “Protect Girls Sports” T-shirts before their meet at the CIF Southern Section Prelims.
She alleged that officials made them feel that if they did not take off their shirts, then they would be disqualified from the event.
“It wasn’t said, but it was implied that if I didn’t take my shirt off then and there, then something could potentially happen to my spot, it wasn’t said, but it was implied,” Hogan said. “Throughout the day it was kind of getting a little bit more stricter… getting a little bit more hostile with their voices… they never said anything about getting disqualified, but it was kind of implied by the tone of their voice and the way that they said things.”
Since the controversy at the prelims, the Trump administration has put California and Gov. Gavin Newsom on notice.
The state has still bucked President Donald Trump’s executive order to keep biological males out of girls’ and women’s sports. The CIF is already under a Title IX investigation.
Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.
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