About a dozen female cross-country runners at Camas High School in Washington state sent a pretty bold and unmistakable message Tuesday when they walked off the course rather than compete against a biological male who had started the season competing on the school's boys' team.
Video from the October 13 meet against Battle Ground High School shows how simple, yet, powerful, their protest was – they simply walked off the course when the starting gun sounded. While other runners began the race, the girls headed toward a nearby line of trees, reportedly joined by one girl from Battle Ground.
And it's the optics that really tell the story here: the unnamed male athlete towers above the girls as they line up for the race. He apparently moved to the girls team about a month ago and has been placing in every competition since making that move, essentially stealing those victories from a female athlete.
Tonight in Washington state, nearly half the Camas High School girls cross country team refused to compete against a boy on their own team. He switched from the boys' team just one month ago. Now he's placing in every meet. Courage always wins. @xx_xyathletics Footage: @KnownHeretic
— Jennifer Sey (@JenniferSey) October 14, 2026
What's worse is that he's stealing from his own teammates. It's one thing to have to face competition from another school who allowed a male to compete as a girl, but imagine how these female athletes feel about someone from their own team and school – someone they may have even grown up with – barging into their space and helping himself to their opportunity?
You'll notice that the girls handled their protest in a dignified manner. No crying, no screaming, no overwrought signs. They just walked off their course and let their absence do all the talking.
For Camas runner Holly Burns, getting to that point apparently took a little time. Her parents, Kevin and Sarah Burns, said that their daughter initially didn’t want to “make waves” over the situation and that they weren’t going to pressure her to do so. It was her choice how to handle things.
Things apparently started to change when the girls on the team started talking to each other about it.
“The more I heard about her friends wanting to do something, the more I heard about her team wanting to do something, we definitely were in support of that,” Kevin Burns said. “We told her, do what you think is best.”
The male athlete at the center of the controversy began the season competing with the Camas High School boys team, finishing 76th in a junior varsity race held on September 5. After switching to the girls’ team, the runner finished second among 195 girls at the Nike Portland XC Invitational on September 26, then won a girls’ varsity race against Union High School three days later.
Tellingly, the boy's performance at a recent invitational would have placed him dead last in the corresponding elite boys’ race.
Bravo to these bold girls for realizing change won't happen if the athletes themselves don't take action. The playing field clearly won't level itself in blue states like Washington, so sometimes the only option left is to refuse to play by rules that were never fair to begin with.