Girls’ track coach speaks out after team loses to school with biological male runner in Washington

Speaking with the Independent Women’s Forum, Cedarcrest High School head coach Dean Vergillo said 2024 should have been the year that the girls’ team at the school won the state championships. Instead, the team came in second, trailing Sokane’s East Valley High School by just eight points.

That difference came down to one first-place finish by East Valley junior Veronica Garcia, who has also gone by Davina Brown or Donovan Brown. Garcia took first place in the Girls’ 400-meter sprint at the May state meet, setting season record of 55.59 seconds. Garcia was awarded 10 points for the first-place finish.

Garcia initially competed in the boys’ cross country and track events but began identifying as a girl and competing in girls’ events later in high school. Before the transition, Garcia was reportedly a middle-of-the-pack runner, far from a first-place finish when competing alongside boys.

Vergillo said that he and his athletes were caught off guard by Garcia’s presence at the meet. "We had no idea that this was coming. As a coach, I found out about it just through talking to other coaches from around the state. Then, in the [girls’] 400-meter open race, the individual from our school that qualified only found out about an hour before."

Verillo said that when it was clear that Garcia was going to compete in the race, he ran to his team tent to attempt to reassure the female athlete that would be running against Garcia.

“We still had goals, and we still had some things that we could control,” he said. “That was my focus for her, to control her own destiny and not let the situation affect her performance.” Despite being forced to race against a male, the female athlete ended up "running well enough to qualify for finals, and then in finals, she actually ran a school record."

Vergillo said that it was "obvious" that Garcia was a male, saying that in his years of coaching, "everyone has a running style" and Garcia’s was "obviously a male running."

"The male [runner] is going to be stronger and more powerful, so you use that to your advantage to get yourself around the track. As a woman, the level of strength and power is different, so you end up having to do it with more grace and finesse," Vergillo said.

Following the meet, Vargillo said "We’ve had many coaches, through text, emails, or just verbally, state their displeasure with the situation." He added that "my biggest disappointment in this situation is how our state association [the WIAA] didn’t prepare us for what was coming."

While Vargillo’s team was "ecstatic" about their second place win at the state meet, they later learned that they would have placed first if it weren’t for Garcia.

"This would’ve been much easier if we had lost by 30 points instead of by just eight," he said. "We can’t control what happened, so let’s make the most of it for us. Let’s enjoy this experience that we had."

In neighboring Oregon, a fellow high school track coach said that he has been fired for speaking out against the inclusion of biological males in female sports. Former Lake Oswego High School coach John Parks wrote letters to state officials asking that the state’s athletic rules be changed to align with "what the rest of the world competes under."

His speaking out came after another trans-identifying male student won the girls’ state championship race for the 200m.