A man standing in line for the ice cream stand nudged his friend when AB Hernandez walked by.
“Hey, that’s AB Hernandez,” he whispered to his friend on top of the ramparts at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium in Clovis, California.
“I don’t know who that is,” the friend responded, before the other man filled him in.
Hernandez was in between qualifying for events in the final round of the state championships in high jump, long jump and triple jump on Friday.
Whispers, rumors and attention had become the norm for the well-known . Hernandez summoned national media hurricanes to two high school track seasons and a volleyball season in the span of one year.
Daisy Gardner, a local pro-LGBTQ activist says she has known Hernandez and the since 2024, when news about the trans athlete’s identity and participation in girls’ sports began to garner local attention.
“I think the two of them have walked through fire. I don’t know anyone else who’s a high school kid who has been targeted by President Trump… I have seen death threats and threats, wishing physical injury upon AB,” Gardner told Fox News Digital.
“Every single time, Nena and AB Hernandez brush it aside, and just go and do the thing that all great athletes do, which is put it out of their mind and focus on the game.”
AB lived up to that reputation in one last high school competition this weekend, right after making a big political campaign debut alongside on Friday morning.
Hernandez’s political video and competition footage were now topics of viral debate. There was a social media firestorm raging beyond the walls of the stadium before and after Hernandez night, and then shared podium spots with every girl who finished one spot behind, in a growing social media punchline.
Through it all, Hernandez kept an easy smile during the competition, on the podium, and especially while interacting with the girls competing in the same events. Hernandez talked and laughed with female counterparts in between jumps.
One of the girls that was frequently close to Hernandez throughout the weekend was the daughter of mom Jennifer Oliver.
“There was a great group there and were just being silly and supporting the other girls while jumping since there is a lot of downtime you just start hanging out,” Oliver said.
Oliver does not believe biological males should compete in girls’ sports. She says the topic, and a difference in views with her daughter, has been an issue at home recently.
“It is a sensitive subject somewhat at home right now because [my daughter] is young and cant see the broader implications of males in female sports. Even when we discuss very specific cases where girls have been injured due to a male player or lost ranking etc., doesnt really resonate yet as she has not been personally impacted and in fact has had a positive experience,” Oliver said.
“She wants to be inclusive and I absolutely think that the schools have focused so much time on not triggering anyone and training on microaggressions and not misgendering anyone or you can be disciplined for that.”
After Oliver spoke out against trans athletes in girls’ sports in an interview the previous week, she says her daughter was confronted for the mother’s comments.
“She was super upset at me. My older daughter told me that this probably created huge drama for [her] and my older daughter actually was mad at me too and said I had no idea what it is like in high school with all of the social media,” Oliver said.
Oliver believes in a kind approach, that she hopes is taken by all sides.
“Two things can exist at the same time – we can be kind humans to each other regardless of gender identity and also create guidelines for sports based on biological birth. This doesn’t make the people that want only biological girls in sports evil,” she said.
Jolene Vayo, the mother of another girl who competed against Hernandez this past wee
