California Track Mom Shows How to Speak Truth With Grace on Transgender Athlete Controversy

Clear Facts

• Biological male AB Hernandez defeated Jennifer Oliver’s daughter Nieve and other girls at California state qualifying track meet, winning three events including high jump
• California is defying President Trump’s February 2025 executive order prohibiting biological males in women’s sports
• CIF created a controversial “shared podium” rule allowing trans athletes to split first place with top biological female competitors

In an age of extreme polarization, California mother Jennifer Oliver is demonstrating that it’s possible to stand firmly for women’s sports while maintaining compassion and respect. Her daughter Nieve, a sophomore from Camarillo, finished second to biological male AB Hernandez in the high jump at Saturday’s girls’ high school state qualifying track meet at Moorpark High School, northwest of Los Angeles.

Oliver’s response cuts through the false choice that activists often present: you can protect girls’ sports without hatred.

“There’s no hate,” Oliver told OutKick. “None of that. My daughter is super inclusive. We get along with everybody. This has nothing to do with any of that. But we also need to do the right thing. My daughter is hoping the adults in charge will do the right thing.”

The situation has reached a critical point in California. Hernandez won two state championships last year in girls track (high jump and triple jump) and is now positioned to win three more titles after winning high jump, triple jump, and long jump at Saturday’s qualifying meet. Hernandez will compete in all three events at the state meet next weekend at Buchanan High School in Clovis.

Nieve Oliver will also compete at state in the high jump. But she and four other girls who jumped 5-foot-6 in Moorpark were denied the recognition of having the best qualifying jump of the day because Hernandez jumped 5-foot-8.

“The adults need to make the right decision here. Period. Hands down. And so far, that’s not happening,” Oliver said. “Thank goodness high jump is not a contact sport. My daughter plays girls flag football, too. I’m very concerned that if there was an issue like this in flag football, I don’t think I’d let her compete. It wouldn’t be safe.”

Oliver’s concerns extend beyond fairness to fundamental safety. She doesn’t believe that biological males competing against women in any sport is fair, and she expects California’s willful defiance of President Donald Trump’s executive order from February 2025 prohibiting men in women’s sports will eventually be addressed by the courts.

“It’s like, what can we (parents) really do right now,” Oliver asked in frustration. “We can wait for the season to be over and we can hope that we’ll see this play out in the courts and we can only hope that the courts get it right. That’s really what needs to happen.”

The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) has attempted to navigate this controversy with a peculiar compromise: a rule requiring trans athletes who win events during later rounds of state track meets to share the top spot on the podium with the highest-placing biological female. The policy reads like an implicit admission that something is fundamentally wrong with the situation.

“I think the bottom line is that everyone knows who won, we all know,” Oliver said of the shared podium arrangement. “And you kind of feel bad for AB in that way. I mean, this is not about the person (AB). Not at all. It’s not about a certain community. It’s not about any of that. It’s just that…it should have never gotten to this point in the first place.”

“Biology is biology. We’re just hoping that they get this right next year. It’s time to do the right thing.”

Oliver’s position represents common sense: every young athlete deserves a place to compete and thrive. But that place needs to be the right place, both fair and safe—not just for one athlete, but for everyone else competing. It’s a position that protects girls’ opportunities while maintaining basic human decency.

The question now is whether California officials will continue defying federal policy and basic biological reality, or whether they’ll do what Oliver and countless other parents are asking: protect girls’ sports while treating everyone with dignity.

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