State track meet returns to Clovis, an ‘epicenter of transgender athlete issue’
The annual state high school track and field championships will take place in Clovis this month, a year after local conservative leaders protested the participation of a transgender student athlete who earned podium finishes at last year’s track meet.
The state championships, organized by the California Interscholastic Federation, the state’s governing body for high school sports, will draw thousands of top student-athletes, along with their coaches, friends, and families, to the host city. The event has generated millions of dollars in revenue for local businesses.
This year, the three-day state swimming and diving championships will be held on the weekend of May 14 at Clovis West Olympic Swim Complex, and the state track meet is scheduled for May 29 and 30 at Buchanan High School’s Veterans Memorial Stadium, according to a Clovis Unified press release.
The transgender student athlete who was at the center of last year’s storm is set to compete again in this year’s track meet. She is currently ranked the state’s top 10 in all three of her events, according to rankings from Athletic.net.
It remains unclear whether the state track meet will draw protesters this year, as well. This upcoming weekend, activists supporting the “Save Girls Sports” campaign are planning a demonstration at the CIF Southern Section Division 3 track and field preliminaries in Yorba Linda, Orange County, according to Fox News.
Located in the heart of California, Clovis has hosted the CIF state championships since 2009. The event is estimated to generate a local economic impact of about $13.3 million, including the revenue from local hotels, motels, restaurants, retail stores and gas stations, according to an analysis by the city’s economic development team.
However, the backlash from local conservative leaders fueled concerns by some Clovis residents that the city might lose future opportunities to host the event.
In 2025, the state track meet brought Clovis into the national spotlight after President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funds from California for allowing transgender athletes to compete in women’s events.
A few days before last year’s championship, some local elected officials — including Clovis Mayor Vong Mouanoutoua, Mayor Pro Tem Diane Pearce, Councilmember Drew Bessinger and Clovis Unified Trustee Tiffany Stoker Madsen — held a pair of press conferences claiming the state’s rules were unfair to cisgender girls.
The track meet drew protesters outside the stadium both days of the event. The city of Clovis spent $21,000 on police overtime during the weekend, according to Clovis City Manager Andrew Haussler.
At a Clovis City Council meeting following the state track meet, about a dozen Clovis residents criticized the elected officials for speaking out on divisive issues that the city and the school district do not have legal authority over.
Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck worried that her council colleagues’ behaviors could jeopardize the city’s ability to host the event, which is a significant source of revenue.
“It didn’t attract one new business, fix one pothole, or hire one new police officer,” Ashbeck said. “As Fox News proclaimed, we are now the epicenter of the transgender athlete issue, that’s funny, because I think our reputation was intended to be so much more, a safer city of the valley, best place to live in California, and the best place to raise a family.”
Pearce said she believes that voicing her opinion on political issues statewide and nationwide is part of the role of being an elected official, even when it’s beyond the city’s jurisdiction.
“As a representative of the people, I’m looking for ways to make sure that those in this community, our girls, our parents, are properly defended at every single level,” Pearce said at the council meeting last year. “I’m not going to apologize for that. I’m not going to act like that’s not in my lane.”
This story was originally published May 8, 2026 at 2:18 PM with the headline "State track meet returns to Clovis, an ‘epicenter of transgender athlete issue’."
