TACOMA - Though the jeering follows Verónica Garcia when she races in track events, it hasn't slowed her down.
Garcia, an East Valley High School senior, is again the state champion in the girls' 2A 400-meter dash after the state track and field championship meet in Tacoma this weekend.
Garcia made history last year as the first transgender track athlete to win a Washington state title in the same event, garnering national attention and sparking controversy from a growing camp of people who don't think trans girls belong in girls sports. This camp was present and vocal at the track meet.
"Maybe it didn't have their intended effect considering it made me angry," Garcia said of her hecklers in a brief interview after finishing. "But not angry as in, I wanted to give up, but angry as in, I'm gonna push."
Garcia pushed her way across the finish line in 55.70 seconds, beating her time last year by a hair. Second place racer Lauren Matthew, West Valley junior finished in 56.75 seconds. Matthew placed second last year with the same time.
After her finish, Garcia grinned, panting as she whispered to herself while boos erupted around her. Other racers hi-fived each other while she soaked in her victory alone.
Her victory drew similar ire this year, men taunting her as she marked up before her lap around the track, packed stands loudly booing the teenager assuming her spot on the podium and a handful of protestors convening outside the event.
Two men glowered at Garcia before she took off. Their gaze didn't leave the teenager as she took her mark, shouting for West Valley runners and "May the best girl win."
"I'm just gonna say it's a ... shame they don't have anything else better to do," Garcia said of her hecklers. "I hope they get a life, but oh well, it just shows who they are as people."
Immediately after the race, Garcia credited Matthew for the motivation.
"I honestly couldn't do this without competition; Miss Matthew, I think she really pushed me," Garcia said.
Matthew, when interviewed after Friday's preliminary, felt differently.
"I shouldn't have to push myself to the point of where I'm about to, like, die in order to win," Matthew said. "I know I'm gonna push myself to keep going, but I don't want a man pushing me to have to go."
Matthew and teammate Quincy Andrews, who placed 5th, were absent from the award podium after the race. Some of the audience chanted Matthew's name when the announcer said Garcia's name as the first place victor. Loud boos ensued as Garcia posed atop the podium with a small smile and sunglasses covering her eyes.
Matthew and Andrews said Garcia's presence left them with a feeling of hopelessness, like they'd never be able to run faster than someone "who's biologically just going to be better than we are," Matthew said.
Scientific perspectives vary on how much sex at birth plays to the advantage or disadvantage of athletes, particularly for people who are transitioning or have used puberty blockers. Testosterone in the body and the long-term effects of a testosterone-based puberty are the primary drivers of men's athletic advantage in most sports, Dr. Bradley Anawalt, an endocrinologist and professor of medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, said in an interview last year. But the degree by which a trans woman's medical transition can counteract that advantage is still an open question.
At Friday's preliminary races, Matthew beat Garcia's time, 56.47 to 58.22, finishing first among all three heats and earning her a spot in Saturday's championship race.
Though Matthew's performance at Friday's preliminary event seemed to contradict any impressions of impossibility, competition against a trans athlete remained "frustrating," she said.
"She's the best woman, she should be winning state," Andrews said. "She should have won state last year, and that's taken away from her, which isn't fair."
The two said their accomplishments were overshadowed by the controversy brought on by Garcia's presence. Their success is only acknowledged in the context of their opponent, they said.
"I feel like, instead of people talking about our success, they talk about the success I had while racing a biological male, like, oh, I got second to a male, or 'Lauren did this,' Matthew said. "It's not talking about my accomplishment, personally, it's about I did this because he did this; so I feel like I wouldn't be talked about if he wasn't there."
West Valley's 4x400 relay team, which included Andrews, Matthew and her sister Aubrey Matthew and Hadassah Duff, finished first in their race, setting a state and school record with their time of 3:53:10. The four broke out into tears as soon as anchor Lauren Matthew crossed the finish line.
"I was happy, it was happy tears," Lauren Matthew said.
Outside the stadium, four women stood with signs declaring "Save women's sports!" and passed out rubber bracelets with the same message. Dawn Land organized the gathering, just as she'd done for last year's meet.
"We're standing up for the girls, because girls deserve fair sports," Land said.
The backlash towards Garcia enveloped the stadium throughout the meet, a reflection of political discourse that Garcia found herself present in.
"One thing that Martin Luther King always pointed out is that you have to do what's right," Garcia said. "Even if there comes risk, you still have to do what's right."
Vitriol to one's identity is something Spokane's Beyoncé Black St. James knows as a transgender woman. As Miss Trans USA, she also knows "triumphs," "love," and "support," she wrote in a statement, and hoped Garcia could find it through the backlash.
"The political vitriol aimed at trans people, including athletes, can have devastating effects on our mental health and well-being," she wrote. "It can lead to feelings of isolation, anxiety and fear."
Belonging and inclusion were on Aidan Key's mind 18 years ago when he helped the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association write their policies that allow trans kids to play on whichever team they identify.
Key, a trans man, knew then that one day a trans kid would win a state title and controversy would ensue, he said. Still, he said they're a stark minority in school sports and said they should be included in school activities, known to foster belonging and inclusion in school. The WIAA estimates that out of the 250,000 student athletes in the state, 5 to 10 are trans.
He said Washington should be proud of its policy surrounding inclusion, the first of its kind when put in place in 2007.
"We're doing it right and it's working very well, that athlete who took first place should be celebrated for so many reasons," he said, listing reasons like Garcia's academic prowess and the courage it took for her to assume the spotlight.
Rather than assume a defeated mindset, Key said those racing against Garcia and their coaches should use her speed as motivation to run faster, which he said isn't impossible just because Garcia is trans. It's offensive to her opponents to insinuate they can't beat Garcia.
"I just think it's wholey, utterly offensive, the narrative that every trans female athlete can beat other women, it's just an insult to women to have that presumption," Key said. "We know there are massively successful athletes out there that could splatter the average man ... It's devaluing of women all the way around, why are we taking that?"