A Washington Sophomore Gave Up Her Season Rather Than Race a Boy, 12 Days Before Voters Decide on Girls' Sports

Elise Bierer is a sophomore cross-country runner at Battle Ground High School in southwest Washington, the second-fastest girl on her team. On Wednesday, when the gun went off for the girls' varsity race at the Greater St. Helens League district championship in Camas, she didn't take a step forward. She turned, walked off the line and into her mother's arms, in tears, OutKick's Matt Calkins reported.

She did it rather than race a Camas High runner who started this season on the boys' team. The walk-off ended her season. Bierer would almost certainly have advanced to regionals, per OutKick. And unlike the girls who protested before her, she did it alone.

She saw this coming for years

Bierer didn't want to be interviewed. Her mother, Sheona, spoke for her. "Before she entered high school — she's a sophomore — I told her that it's a real possibility that this could come into play, that she might be forced to race against a male. When we talked about that, she said if that were to happen, she would stand up for what was right and just not compete," she told OutKick.

Sheona said Elise and other Battle Ground girls who objected were pressured to run the JV race instead, so the varsity team would have a better shot at a top-three finish and a trip to regionals. Elise felt she had earned her varsity spot. Teammates had planned to walk off with her, but those plans changed before the race. She didn't tell her coach, Patricia Tester, for fear of being moved to JV, OutKick reported.

Only five Battle Ground girls even showed up for the varsity race; the other three schools brought seven apiece (OutKick).

"I'm super proud. I'm still overwhelmed," her mother said. "I know this is really hard, but I love her, and I'm so glad that she's going to stand up for what's right, even when everybody else is walking away from what's right and chose to buckle under pressure." She added that Elise, who has run since sixth grade, won't come back next year if she has to race the Camas boy, per OutKick.

A girl lost her spot anyway

The Camas runner finished second of 26 in the girls' race. Only 21 advance to regionals, so his finish bumped a girl out of the next round, and it helped carry Camas to first place in the team standings, OutKick reported. Earlier this season, he won a girls' varsity dual meet after placing 76th among boys a couple of weeks before.

Picture a JV basketball player who couldn't crack the boys' rotation, switching to the girls' team and making all-conference. Nobody calls that fair. In a sport scored by finishing place, every spot he takes is one a girl doesn't get.

Battle Ground's coaches didn't want to talk about it. Tester wouldn't even give a no comment. Another coach told Calkins, "Go away, please. That's my comment," and then, "Leave the kids alone," per OutKick.

The walk-offs keep coming

Bierer wasn't the first. On Oct. 13, more than a dozen Camas girls, about half the runner's own 24-girl team, walked the first 50 meters of a league meet against Battle Ground and then left the course, The Columbian's Micah Rice reported that night. Bierer and some Battle Ground teammates sat that meet out too. One parent says 18 girls have now quit the Camas team (OutKick).

The fallout has spread. A later meet involving Camas and three other schools had to be moved over security concerns, KUOW reported, citing The Columbian. State schools chief Chris Reykdal told KIRO the protesting girls have a right to protest, KUOW reported.

An hour before Wednesday's race, supporters packed a "Camas Courage: Support Our Girls" rally across the street. Journalist Brandi Kruse said the girls "have shown more bravery … than the vast majority of the elected leaders in the state of Washington," Clark County Today reported. Tumwater High senior Frances Staudt, who took her own stand two years ago when a boy joined her basketball team, told the crowd: "Back then, I was one girl. … Look around now. Not one girl. A whole group of girls is standing up saying enough is enough."

Voters get the last word Nov. 3

The protests are landing as ballots hit Washington mailboxes. Initiative 638 would require school sports rules to "prohibit biologically male students from competing with and against female students" in events meant for girls only, according to the Legislature's summary. Lawmakers in Olympia didn't act on it during their 2026 session, which sent it straight to voters, per the same summary.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association has let athletes compete by gender identity for nearly 20 years, KUOW reported. Opponents of 638 claim girls would face invasive exams. The initiative's text calls for "a required routine sports physical examination, a health examination and consent form or other statement signed by the student's personal health care provider that verifies the student's biological sex," as Clark County Today pointed out.

The adults in charge spent this season telling girls to run the JV race, keep quiet and leave it alone. A sophomore answered by walking off a district start line by herself. Washington voters have 12 days to decide whether the next girl has to.