Washington girls' track coach on losing first place status to trans runner: 'Obviously a male running'

Veronica Garcia, a transgender high school runner in Washington, won a state title in the girls’ 400-meter dash on Saturday. (Credit: Quin Hutchins)

Girls’ track and field coach Dean Vergillo spoke out against his Washington high school team’s state loss against a transgender runner.

The Cedarcrest High School coach spoke to the Independent Women’s Forum about his team competing in the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) state track and field meet earlier in May.

One of his athletes had competed against 17-year-old transgender athlete Veronica Garcia in the 400-meter sprint. Though it wasn’t apparent that Garcia was a biological male, Vergillo remarked that it was easy to tell once the race started.

Veronica Garcia won the 400-meter sprint at the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) state. (John Walton - PA Images via Getty Images)

"As a cross country and track coach, everybody has a running style," he said. "It’s kind of like your fingerprint — everybody runs a little bit differently. In this case, it was obviously a male running."

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Garcia went on to win the race, earning 10 points for East Valley High School. Vergillo noted that his high school’s team only lost the state meet to East Valley by eight points, meaning Garcia’s win was the deciding factor.

"This would’ve been much easier if we had lost by 30 points instead of by just eight," Vergillo said. "We can’t control what happened, so let’s make the most of it for us. Let’s enjoy this experience that we had."

He celebrated his runner’s efforts regardless, commenting that she "actually ran a school record." Vergillo was more