Roughly a dozen high school girls took their spots at the starting line of a Washington cross-country meet and walked off the course in protest. The Oct. 13 protest, reported by Fox News Digital’s Jackson Thompson, at a Camas High School dual meet against Battle Ground followed a decision allowing a male athlete to switch from the boys’ team to the girls’ varsity roster midseason.
On Sept. 5, the athlete finished 76th in an Oregon boys’ junior varsity race. Just ten days later, that same runner was competing in the girls’ division, as reported by OutKick’s Matt Calkins.
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School officials were fine rubber-stamping the decision, but the young Camas runners weren’t about to pretend it was a level playing field. They walked off the course.
Parents Kevin and Sarah Burns appeared on “The Ingraham Angle” to explain why their daughter Holly and her teammates decided they had seen enough.
“Well, we told her that they should do what they feel is best and that they feel is right. And they got the support from their teammates, and they decided to make a difference,” Kevin Burns said.
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“I think if only a couple of girls had walked off it, they would have lost some opportunities. And I don’t think it would have mattered so much. But so many of them,” he added. “And I want you to remember that several of the girls, such as the team, team captains, had quit before this. So there really was a lot more girls than you see in the video that were protesting this.”
When families questioned the runner’s eligibility, the Camas School District said its hands were tied by state rules.
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Officials explained that Washington law and high school athletic regulations require schools to let athletes compete in divisions matching their gender identity.
Holly’s father explained that the school’s response effectively shut down the issue.
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“The school sent us out a letter stating that, based on Washington law, it prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and expression,” he said. When Ingraham summarized the letter as telling families they were out of luck, he agreed: “I guess it’s okay to discriminate against actual gender.”
With athletic institutions and legacy sports figures largely silent, the burden of taking a stand fell on teenagers.
California high school girls’ athletes wear ‘Protect Girls Sports’ shirts at a postseason track meet at Yorba Linda High School on Saturday, May 10, 2025. (Courtesy of Reese Hogan)
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Holly’s mother addressed the emotional weight placed on young competitors who simply wanted to run.
“They’re children, they’re, you know, they’re 16 to 17-year-old girls that shouldn’t have to deal with this at all, shouldn’t even be on their radar,” Sarah Burns said. “You know, they should just be able to go out there and race and have fun and not deal with this adult issue.”
The friction carried straight onto the sidelines during the meet.
When the parents arrived with signs to support the runners, security attempted to remove them.
Sierra Retzlaff and her father, Joel Retzlaff, who was banned from school grounds for protesting against a trans runner on the opposing Camas High School team during a Sept. 5 cross-country meet. (Peggy Retzlaff)
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“We’ve actually received a lot of support. I think that there’s a big silent majority on this,” Kevin Burns said. “I think people are afraid to speak out, but that was one of the reasons why we went down there and we held up signs.”
The couple stood their ground and refused to leave.
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“We got a lot of pushback showing up there. They said the signs weren’t allowed. We had to leave. My wife Sarah was being very brave and did not care. And I don’t think they had a legal reason to actually push us out,” he recalled.
“So we ended up actually staying there and holding our signs, and it gave the girls a boost of self-esteem. And we had a lot of parents coming up and saying, thank you for doing this. I was, I wanted to do this also. So this is kind of the start, I think.”
Her mother laid bare what is at stake: “I want to stand up for girls that need someone to stand up for them.”
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Kevin also pressed political leaders to take up the cause, arguing that defending female athletics bridges partisan divides.
“This is a big issue that most Americans on both sides of the political aisle agree with. And I don’t know why, party members, especially on the right, aren’t grabbing this more and pushing it.
“I know they have in the past, but this is such a winning issue,” he said. “We have friends on both sides of the aisle that agree with the girls’ rights to not have to compete against boys.”
The adults in charge won’t do their jobs, so high school girls are doing it for them. Welcome to high school sports in 2026.
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