Five-second answer
Claim we investigated
Washington competition results document at least 269 placements by male athletes competing in girls' interscholastic categories, including 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes.
Mostly true. A public tally reproduces 269, 74 and 156 exactly; the entries come from ten athletes, mostly at regular-season meets. The figures match HeCheated.org's row-by-row Washington table to the entry once three later rows are set aside, and official WIAA state-meet results and independent MileSplit results confirm 17 of 18 sampled entries; but 113 of the 269 entries finished outside the top three, ten athletes account for all of them, and only 13 were at state championships.
Quote or cite this fact-check
FactHub rates the claim “Washington competition results document at least 269 placements by male athletes competing in girls' interscholastic categories, including 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes” Mostly true (moderate confidence): A public tally reproduces 269, 74 and 156 exactly; the entries come from ten athletes, mostly at regular-season meets. Reviewed October 23, 2026. https://facthub.org/n/article/wa-i638-girls-event-placements/5
One-minute summary
What the evidence establishes
- Established. The 269, 74 and 156 come from HeCheated.org's public Washington K-12 table; recounting its rows reproduces all three exactly once three September 2026 rows, added later, are set aside.
- Established. Sampled entries match official WIAA state-meet results and independent MileSplit results in 17 of 18 checks, including two WIAA girls' state track titles, in 2024 and 2025.
- Established. "Placements" means every event entered: 156 were top three, and 113 were 4th or lower, disqualified or unplaced.
- Established. Ten athletes produced all 269 entries, one of them in 1977; one athlete has 36 of the 74 wins.
- Established. 193 of the 269 entries were at regular-season meets; 13 were at state championships, with 2 wins.
- Not shown. The tally does not show that the athletes are male by any official record; that identification is the advocacy site's.
- Context. Officials estimate 5 to 10 transgender athletes in Washington school sports; no agency keeps a count.
Washington competition results document at least 269 placements by male athletes competing in girls' interscholastic categories, including 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes.
Context: The Yes rebuttal's count of how often male athletes have placed in Washington girls' events; compare the No side's 5 - 10 athletes.
Source: Washington Secretary of State, 2026 General Election voters' pamphlet (statewide edition) · View in the dataset
The evidence
The conclusion rests on the combined record. Expand each item to see its role and limitations.
| Method | Institution / country | Year(s) | What it shows | Key limitation | Primary links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traced the pamphlet figures through Yes-side materials to their cited source and compared the totals | HeCheated.org, Washington Secretary of State, Carol Dansereau (Substack) United States | 2026 | The pamphlet's Yes rebuttal gives 269 placements, 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes without a source. A Yes flyer published October 8, 2026 by a Washington writer repeats the same three numbers as events "participated in"; her longer article the same day gives 272, 158 and 75 and cites HeCheated.org's Washington results page, dated August 2026. That page now shows "272+ total events", 75 first places and 158 top-three finishes. | No Yes committee document names the source; the link rests on the identical numbers and the Yes-side writer's citation. HeCheated changes as it adds rows, and no archived copy from before September 2026 exists. | Washington Secretary of State Carol Dansereau (Substack) Carol Dansereau (Substack) HeCheated.org |
| FactHub extracted every row of the HeCheated table, removed names, and counted entries, wins and top-three finishes with HeCheated's own rules | FactHub, HeCheated.org United States | 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 | The table has 279 rows. HeCheated leaves did-not-start entries out of its event total; without those 7, the total is 272, with 75 firsts and 158 top three, matching the page. Three rows are dated September 2026, after the pamphlet was written; without them the count is 269 entries, 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes, the pamphlet's figures. Of the 269, 74 were wins, 82 second or third, 71 fourth to tenth, 37 eleventh or lower, and 5 disqualified or unplaced. | The recount only shows the arithmetic is right; it inherits whatever HeCheated missed or mislabeled. FactHub's finish groups below the top three use the place numbers HeCheated lists. | FactHub HeCheated.org |
| Checked all six state-meet track entries in the WIAA 2A-3A-4A meet results against official WIAA results, and a systematic sample of 12 other entries against the MileSplit results pages HeCheated links | Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA), MileSplit, KIRO 7 United States | 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 | Official WIAA results confirm two girls' state track titles, in 2024 and 2025, and the team placings of the four state-meet relay entries. Eleven of 12 sampled regular-season entries matched their results pages exactly; one 3200m entry listed as 4th was scored as an exhibition. A 2025 news report independently identified the athlete who won one of those titles as a transgender girl. | 18 of 272 entries were checked, all in track or cross country. WIAA relay results list schools, not runners, so for relays only the team's place was confirmed. Results pages do not record anyone's sex; they confirm the place, not the identification. | Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA) FactHub KIRO 7 News |
| FactHub breakdown of the 269 entries by athlete, meet type, event type and year | FactHub, HeCheated.org United States | 1977, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 | Ten athletes account for all 269 entries; four account for 226. One high-school athlete has 36 of the 74 wins and a middle-school athlete 18. One entry is a 1977 gymnastics win. By meet type, 193 entries were at regular-season meets (61 wins), 51 at district, regional or league championships (10 wins) and 13 at state championships (2 wins). There are 52 relay entries and 54 middle-school entries. Limited to Washington meets from 2022, WIAA sports and individual events, the count is 200 entries, 55 wins and 113 top three by eight athletes. | HeCheated says its table is incomplete and that many unnamed athletes are not included. Its identification of athletes as male rests on public sources it gathered; several Washington athletes have no linked source on its athlete page. | FactHub HeCheated.org |
| Statements by the state schools superintendent and the WIAA as reported, and the two campaigns' accounts of them | Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, WIAA, No Hate in Washington State, Let's Go Washington United States | 2025, 2026 | In February 2025, Superintendent Chris Reykdal said roughly five to 10 of nearly a quarter million participants in interscholastic activities had identified themselves as trans. The No campaign attributes its 5 to 10 to Reykdal and a WIAA assistant executive director. Let's Go Washington says WIAA told it that it does not track transgender participation. HeCheated's own Washington table, by our count, has three to seven athletes active in any one year from 2022 to 2026. | The estimate is not from a published count, and athletes need not tell anyone they are transgender. The HeCheated table is incomplete, so its per-year numbers are a floor, not a census. | Fox News No Hate in Washington State Let's Go Washington |
1. The count comes from HeCheated.org's Washington K-12 table Traced the pamphlet figures through Yes-side materials to their cited source and compared the totals
The pamphlet's Yes rebuttal gives 269 placements, 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes without a source. A Yes flyer published October 8, 2026 by a Washington writer repeats the same three numbers as events "participated in"; her longer article the same day gives 272, 158 and 75 and cites HeCheated.org's Washington results page, dated August 2026. That page now shows "272+ total events", 75 first places and 158 top-three finishes.
Limit: No Yes committee document names the source; the link rests on the identical numbers and the Yes-side writer's citation. HeCheated changes as it adds rows, and no archived copy from before September 2026 exists.
Verify: 2026 General Election voters' pamphlet, Initiative Measure IL26-638 (statewide edition) YES on Initiative 638. No Boys in Girls' Sports! (A flyer.) No Boys in Girls' Sports! (In-depth article.) HeCheated - Washington Results (K-12)
- The Yes rebuttal states the count of 269 placements, 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes, with no source named. Washington Secretary of State
- A Yes-side flyer describes the same 269 as events the athletes participated in, not placements. Carol Dansereau (Substack) · Qualifies
- The article gives 272 events, matching HeCheated's later total. Carol Dansereau (Substack)
- The article cites HeCheated's Washington results page, dated August 2026, for the totals. Carol Dansereau (Substack)
- The page's summary now shows 272 events, 75 first places and 158 top-three finishes for Washington. HeCheated.org
2. Recounting HeCheated's rows reproduces 269, 74 and 156 exactly FactHub extracted every row of the HeCheated table, removed names, and counted entries, wins and top-three finishes with HeCheated's own rules
The table has 279 rows. HeCheated leaves did-not-start entries out of its event total; without those 7, the total is 272, with 75 firsts and 158 top three, matching the page. Three rows are dated September 2026, after the pamphlet was written; without them the count is 269 entries, 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes, the pamphlet's figures. Of the 269, 74 were wins, 82 second or third, 71 fourth to tenth, 37 eleventh or lower, and 5 disqualified or unplaced.
Limit: The recount only shows the arithmetic is right; it inherits whatever HeCheated missed or mislabeled. FactHub's finish groups below the top three use the place numbers HeCheated lists.
Verify: Washington girls' school events entered by male-born athletes, as tallied by HeCheated.org (anonymized) (dataset) HeCheated - Washington Results (K-12)
- Without did-not-start rows and the three September 2026 rows, the table gives 269 entries, 74 firsts and 156 top three by ten athletes; no two rows are the same event at the same meet. FactHub
- Did-not-start entries are left out of the event total; every other entry counts, whatever its finish. HeCheated.org · Qualifies
- Of the 269 entries, 74 won, 82 were second or third, 71 fourth to tenth, 37 eleventh or lower and 5 disqualified or unplaced. FactHub · Qualifies
3. Official and independent results confirm sampled entries Checked all six state-meet track entries in the WIAA 2A-3A-4A meet results against official WIAA results, and a systematic sample of 12 other entries against the MileSplit results pages HeCheated links
Official WIAA results confirm two girls' state track titles, in 2024 and 2025, and the team placings of the four state-meet relay entries. Eleven of 12 sampled regular-season entries matched their results pages exactly; one 3200m entry listed as 4th was scored as an exhibition. A 2025 news report independently identified the athlete who won one of those titles as a transgender girl.
Limit: 18 of 272 entries were checked, all in track or cross country. WIAA relay results list schools, not runners, so for relays only the team's place was confirmed. Results pages do not record anyone's sex; they confirm the place, not the identification.
Verify: 2025 State 2A-3A-4A Track and Field Championships results Sample check against official and independent results (saved analysis) WA now at center of national debate after transgender athlete's victory in track event
- The official 2025 state-meet results list the girls' finals the tally records; FactHub matched a win and a relay placing. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA)
- 17 of 18 checked entries matched official or independent results (5 at team level for relays); one listed as 4th was an exhibition entry. FactHub
- A news report independently identifies the athlete who won a 2025 state track title as a transgender girl. KIRO 7 News
4. Ten athletes, mostly at regular-season meets FactHub breakdown of the 269 entries by athlete, meet type, event type and year
Ten athletes account for all 269 entries; four account for 226. One high-school athlete has 36 of the 74 wins and a middle-school athlete 18. One entry is a 1977 gymnastics win. By meet type, 193 entries were at regular-season meets (61 wins), 51 at district, regional or league championships (10 wins) and 13 at state championships (2 wins). There are 52 relay entries and 54 middle-school entries. Limited to Washington meets from 2022, WIAA sports and individual events, the count is 200 entries, 55 wins and 113 top three by eight athletes.
Limit: HeCheated says its table is incomplete and that many unnamed athletes are not included. Its identification of athletes as male rests on public sources it gathered; several Washington athletes have no linked source on its athlete page.
Verify: Washington girls' school events entered by male-born athletes, as tallied by HeCheated.org (anonymized) (dataset) HeCheated - Washington Results (K-12)
- Ten athletes account for all 269 entries; one has 36 of the 74 wins and two have 54. One entry is from 1977. FactHub · Qualifies
- 193 entries (61 wins) were at regular-season meets, 51 (10 wins) at district, regional or league championships and 13 (2 wins) at state championships. FactHub · Qualifies
- Washington meets from 2022, WIAA sports and individual events only: 200 entries, 55 wins and 113 top three by eight athletes. 52 entries are relays. FactHub
- The table covers only school-sponsored competition, not club or youth results. HeCheated.org
- The site says its table is incomplete, so the true number of entries is probably higher. HeCheated.org
- The site, not any official body, identifies the athletes as male, using public sources. HeCheated.org · Qualifies
5. Officials estimate 5 to 10 transgender athletes; no one keeps a count Statements by the state schools superintendent and the WIAA as reported, and the two campaigns' accounts of them
In February 2025, Superintendent Chris Reykdal said roughly five to 10 of nearly a quarter million participants in interscholastic activities had identified themselves as trans. The No campaign attributes its 5 to 10 to Reykdal and a WIAA assistant executive director. Let's Go Washington says WIAA told it that it does not track transgender participation. HeCheated's own Washington table, by our count, has three to seven athletes active in any one year from 2022 to 2026.
Limit: The estimate is not from a published count, and athletes need not tell anyone they are transgender. The HeCheated table is incomplete, so its per-year numbers are a floor, not a census.
Verify: State education chief says it's 'inaccurate' to say there are only two genders, in defense of trans athletes About I-638 The Truth About The Initiatives
- The state superintendent estimated in 2025 that roughly five to 10 students in interscholastic activities identified as transgender. Fox News · Qualifies
- The No campaign attributes its 5 to 10 to the superintendent and a WIAA official. No Hate in Washington State · Qualifies
- The Yes sponsor says WIAA told it that it does not track transgender participation. Let's Go Washington · Qualifies
Common questions
“This statewide blanket ban to kick 5 - 10 trans girls off school teams will negatively impact all girls, leaving no room for case by case decisions.”
We rate the sentence as a whole. The count is about right: 5 to 10 matches the only official estimates, from the state superintendent and WIAA, and the Yes side's own source lists three to seven athletes in any one year, though no agency keeps a count. 'No room for case by case decisions' is accurate: the measure sets one statewide rule. But 'kick ... off school teams' overstates it: the measure bars male-born students only from girls' competition, so they could still play on boys' or open teams. And 'will negatively impact all girls' is an unsupported forecast. In the 24 states with similar team rules, girls' participation per 1,000 rose from 2018-19 to 2025-26, by FactHub's separate count, and under Washington's current rules some girls have forfeited rather than compete against a transgender athlete, so the effects on girls run both ways. Accurate parts joined to an overstatement and a one-sided forecast leave a wrong impression, so we rate it Misleading. The 5 to 10 athletes and the 269 entries describe the same small group from different angles.
- The No argument says the measure would remove 5 to 10 transgender girls from school teams. Washington Secretary of State · Qualifies
- The explanatory statement says the measure would generally prevent transgender girls from playing on girls' teams, not on all teams. Washington Secretary of State · Qualifies
- The No campaign attributes its 5 to 10 to the superintendent and a WIAA official. No Hate in Washington State · Qualifies
- The Yes sponsor calls the 5 to 10 figure an underestimate but cites no count of its own. Let's Go Washington · Qualifies
- Ten athletes account for all 269 entries; one has 36 of the 74 wins and two have 54. One entry is from 1977. FactHub · Qualifies
- In the 24 states with laws like I-638's team rule, girls' participation per 1,000 rose from 370.1 in 2018-19 to 401.8 in 2025-26; in states without such laws it was flat (453.4 to 452.7). FactHub Research Team · Qualifies
- In October 2026, about a dozen runners on a Washington high school cross-country team forfeited a race rather than compete alongside a transgender teammate. Marathon Handbook · Qualifies
- A Washington district told a girls' wrestler's family that its only remedy was letting her forfeit matches against transgender opponents without district penalty. Alliance Defending Freedom (counsel for applicants) · Qualifies
“269 placements means 269 podium finishes.”
Short answer: No: 156 were top three
HeCheated's total counts every event entered, including 4th place or lower, last place and disqualifications. Of the 269, 156 were top-three finishes and 74 were wins; 113 were not top three. The Yes-side flyer that uses the same numbers calls them events the athletes participated in.
- Of the 269 entries, 74 won, 82 were second or third, 71 fourth to tenth, 37 eleventh or lower and 5 disqualified or unplaced. FactHub · Qualifies
- A Yes-side flyer describes the same 269 as events the athletes participated in, not placements. Carol Dansereau (Substack) · Qualifies
“The tally double counts athletes or races.”
Short answer: No, but each event counts
No race is counted twice: no two rows describe the same event at the same meet. But each event an athlete entered is its own row, so a runner in three events at one meet adds three entries: the 269 come from 165 athlete-meet pairs, and 52 are relays, where the place belongs to a team of four girls and one male-born athlete.
- Without did-not-start rows and the three September 2026 rows, the table gives 269 entries, 74 firsts and 156 top three by ten athletes; no two rows are the same event at the same meet. FactHub
- Washington meets from 2022, WIAA sports and individual events only: 200 entries, 55 wins and 113 top three by eight athletes. 52 entries are relays. FactHub
“These were mostly minor meets, not championships.”
Short answer: Mostly, yes
193 of the 269 entries and 61 of the 74 wins came at dual meets, invitationals and league meets; 13 entries and 2 wins came at state championships. That is a fair point against reading the count as championship results. But regular-season places still decide medals, league standings, team points and qualifying marks, and each win or podium place at any meet went to someone other than a girl who finished behind.
“How do we know these athletes are male?”
Short answer: The tally's identification
Results pages do not record sex. HeCheated says it identifies athletes from news articles, the athletes' own statements, name changes, photos and other public records, and several Washington athletes have no linked source. The most prominent case, an athlete with two state track titles, was widely reported. We did not re-verify every athlete, which is why our confidence is moderate.
“HeCheated is an advocacy site, so its numbers can't be trusted.”
Short answer: Advocacy, but checkable
It is an advocacy site with a clear position. But each row links to a results page, and the entries we checked matched official or independent results in 17 of 18 cases. Its own notes say the table is incomplete, which suggests the count is a floor rather than an exaggeration.
Conclusion
The Yes campaign's numbers are real and traceable. HeCheated.org's Washington K-12 table, which a Yes-side writer cited for the same figures, lists 279 rows as of October 23, 2026. Leaving out the seven did-not-start rows, as HeCheated does, and the three rows dated September 2026, which were added after the pamphlet text was written, leaves exactly 269 entries, 74 first places and 156 top-three finishes. Each row links to a results page, and the entries we checked against official WIAA state-meet results and independent MileSplit results matched in 17 of 18 cases; the 18th was scored as an exhibition rather than 4th. Two of the wins are WIAA girls' state track titles, in 2024 and 2025, that official results confirm. What the claim leaves out matters for how voters read it. First, "placements" means every event entered: 113 of the 269 were not top-three finishes, including 37 entries that finished 11th or lower and 5 disqualifications or entries with no place listed. A Yes-side flyer using the same numbers calls them "female sports events" the athletes "participated in", which is the more accurate description. Second, the 269 come from ten athletes, one of them from 1977; by our count, three to seven appear in any one calendar year from 2022 to 2026. One athlete has 36 of the 74 wins, and two have 54. Third, 193 of the 269 entries (72%) were at regular-season dual meets, invitationals and league meets; 13 were at state championships, with 2 wins. Fourth, 52 entries are relays, where the result belongs to a team of four, and 16 are girls' ultimate in a league outside WIAA, four of them at out-of-state national invitationals. None of this makes the claim false. Under the narrowest definition we tried, Washington meets from 2022 on, WIAA sports, individual events only, the tally still shows 200 entries, 55 wins and 113 top-three finishes by eight athletes. Every win and podium place at any meet was a place a girl did not get. And "at least" is fair: HeCheated says many results are missing, so the true count is probably higher. The count does not double-count a single race; it does count each event separately, so one meet can add several entries. We rate the claim Mostly true: the numbers are accurate and documented, but "placements" overstates what the 269 are, and the claim omits that a handful of athletes produced them, mostly outside championships. Confidence is moderate because the identification of each athlete as male is HeCheated's, drawn from public sources we did not re-verify for every athlete; the most prominent case is documented in news coverage. The No side's "5 - 10 trans girls" and the Yes side's 269 placements are compatible: a few athletes over five seasons produced hundreds of entries. Whether that justifies the measure is a values question this article does not answer.
How we checked
- Defined the claim as the Yes rebuttal's exact words in the 2026 voters' pamphlet and identified the No argument's 5 - 10 as the figure it answers.
- Traced the figures through Yes-side materials to HeCheated.org's Washington K-12 table, the source a Yes-side writer cited for them.
- Extracted all 279 rows of that table on October 23, 2026, removed names, schools and meet names, and recounted entries, wins and top-three finishes with HeCheated's own rules; set aside the three rows added after the pamphlet was written.
- Classified each entry by meet type, school level, event type and finish, and recounted under narrower definitions (Washington meets only, WIAA sports only, individual events only, from 2022).
- Checked the six state-meet track entries against official WIAA results and a systematic sample of 12 other entries against the MileSplit results pages the table links; independent news reports corroborate the most prominent case.
- Checked the source of the No side's 5 - 10 and what the measure's text bars, and recorded the limits of each line of evidence. Published the anonymized table, checks and scripts as a FactHub dataset.
Editorial note: Scope: the Yes rebuttal's count of placements in Washington girls' school events, and the No argument's estimate of 5 to 10 affected athletes. We do not name or link to identify any athlete; athletes are coded A to K in the FactHub dataset, and schools and meet names are removed. HeCheated.org's identification of athletes is reported as its own. FactHub takes no position on I-638. No external specialist review has been recorded.
Expert-review status
No external specialist review has been recorded.
Funding and conflicts
Funding: No external funding for this piece.
Ownership: Published by the FactHub Research Team.
Conflicts: None known.
Sources
Sources are labeled by kind, with what this fact check takes from each, so readers can check the evidence independently.
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Government
Washington Secretary of State.
2026 General Election voters' pamphlet, Initiative Measure IL26-638 (statewide edition)
The official arguments for and against IL26-638, with the Attorney General's explanatory statement.
Reliability: The Secretary of State prints each campaign's argument as submitted and is not responsible for its content; the explanatory statement is the Attorney General's.
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The Yes rebuttal states the count of 269 placements, 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes, with no source named.
What the source says
Washington competition results document at least 269
p. 22, Rebuttal of argument against · Committee for the argument for IL26-638 -
Qualifies: The No argument says the measure would remove 5 to 10 transgender girls from school teams.
What the source says
kick 5 - 10 trans girls off school teams
p. 22, Argument against, "Vote No Because It Discourages Girls From Playing Sports" · Committee for the argument against IL26-638 -
Qualifies: The explanatory statement says the measure would generally prevent transgender girls from playing on girls' teams, not on all teams.
What the source says
transgender girls from participating on girls' sports
p. 21, Explanatory statement, The Effect of the Proposed Measure if Approved
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Advocacy group
HeCheated.org.
HeCheated - Washington Results (K-12)
An advocacy site's table of results of male-born athletes in female school competition in Washington, with a link to each result and notes on its method.
Reliability: Has a stake in this finding. HeCheated.org campaigns against male-born athletes in female categories. It identifies athletes from public sources it gathers and links each result; it is the source of the Yes campaign's figures.
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The page's summary now shows 272 events, 75 first places and 158 top-three finishes for Washington.
What the source says
272+ total events
Page header, Washington totals -
Qualifies: Did-not-start entries are left out of the event total; every other entry counts, whatever its finish.
What the source says
"DNS" events not included in "total events" tally.
Notes, Other Notes -
The table covers only school-sponsored competition, not club or youth results.
What the source says
It does not include club or youth results from participation outside school-sponsored teams.
Notes, Data Scope -
The site says its table is incomplete, so the true number of entries is probably higher.
What the source says
Many results for named athletes are not available. The totals here do not represent every competition the athletes may have participated in.
Notes, Other Notes -
Qualifies: The site, not any official body, identifies the athletes as male, using public sources.
What the source says
Athletes have been verified as male through the use of public sources: news articles, personal declarations from the athletes, name changes, past photos, and other public records including job history, school records, and family records.
Notes, Athlete Verification
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Advocacy group
Carol Dansereau (Substack).
YES on Initiative 638. No Boys in Girls' Sports! (A flyer.)
A Yes on I-638 flyer published October 8, 2026, using the same three figures as the pamphlet.
Reliability: Has a stake in this finding. The author campaigns for I-638. The flyer gives no source for the figures and points readers to her longer article.
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Qualifies: A Yes-side flyer describes the same 269 as events the athletes participated in, not placements.
What the source says
In the last five years, males have participated in over 269 middle and high school female sports events in Washington State.
Body
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Advocacy group
Carol Dansereau (Substack).
No Boys in Girls' Sports! (In-depth article.)
The same author's longer Yes-side article of October 8, 2026, which gives updated totals and cites HeCheated.org for them.
Reliability: Has a stake in this finding. The author campaigns for I-638. Its footnote 5 is the only public citation we found linking the figures to a source.
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The article gives 272 events, matching HeCheated's later total.
What the source says
In the last five years, males have participated in over 272 middle and high school female sports events in Washington State.
Section on Washington, before footnote 5 -
The article cites HeCheated's Washington results page, dated August 2026, for the totals.
What the source says
Hecheated.org, Washington Results, (August 2026)
Footnote 5
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Government
Washington Interscholastic Activities Association (WIAA).
2025 State 2A-3A-4A Track and Field Championships results
Official results of the 2025 2A-3A-4A state track meet, including the girls' finals FactHub checked.
Reliability: WIAA runs Washington high-school championships and publishes the timing company's official results.
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The official 2025 state-meet results list the girls' finals the tally records; FactHub matched a win and a relay placing.
What the source says
2025 State 2A-3A-4A-Track & Field Championships
Page 1 header; girls' finals
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News report
KIRO 7 News.
WA now at center of national debate after transgender athlete's victory in track event
June 2025 news report on a transgender girl's win at the state high school track championships.
Reliability: Seattle television news report; independent of both campaigns.
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A news report independently identifies the athlete who won a 2025 state track title as a transgender girl.
What the source says
Washington is now at the center of a political firestorm after a transgender girl won an event at the state’s high school track and field championships.
First paragraph
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News report
Fox News.
State education chief says it's 'inaccurate' to say there are only two genders, in defense of trans athletes
February 21, 2025 report quoting Superintendent Chris Reykdal's estimate of transgender participants in interscholastic activities.
Reliability: National news report; the quote is Reykdal's, from a February 2025 address criticizing the federal executive order on girls' sports.
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Qualifies: The state superintendent estimated in 2025 that roughly five to 10 students in interscholastic activities identified as transgender.
What the source says
Out of nearly a quarter million kids participating in interscholastic athletics and activities in the state of Washington, roughly five to 10 youth have identified themselves as trans participating in those activities
Body, quoting Reykdal · Chris Reykdal, Washington Superintendent of Public Instruction
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Party to the dispute
No Hate in Washington State.
About I-638
The No campaign's explanation of the measure, including the source of its 5 to 10 figure.
Reliability: Has a stake in this finding. The committee opposing I-638.
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Qualifies: The No campaign attributes its 5 to 10 to the superintendent and a WIAA official.
What the source says
an estimated 5 - 10 transgender children play school sports in our state, according to statements from Superintendent for Public Instruction Chris Reykdal and from Justin Kesterson
How many transgender girls play sports now in Washington schools?
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Party to the dispute
Let's Go Washington.
The Truth About The Initiatives
The Yes campaign sponsor's rebuttal page, which disputes the 5 to 10 figure.
Reliability: Has a stake in this finding. Let's Go Washington sponsors and funds the Yes campaign. It cites emails from WIAA that it has not published.
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Qualifies: The Yes sponsor says WIAA told it that it does not track transgender participation.
What the source says
The WIAA has confirmed in emails with LGW that they do not track trans participation across sports.
Claim: Only "5–10" transgender students participate -
Qualifies: The Yes sponsor calls the 5 to 10 figure an underestimate but cites no count of its own.
What the source says
No publicly available dataset from WIAA or OSPI supports this figure
Claim: Only "5–10" transgender students participate, Issue
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FactHub record
FactHub.
Washington girls' school events entered by male-born athletes, as tallied by HeCheated.org (anonymized) (dataset)
The anonymized HeCheated table with FactHub's classifications, saved analyses and scripts.
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Without did-not-start rows and the three September 2026 rows, the table gives 269 entries, 74 firsts and 156 top three by ten athletes; no two rows are the same event at the same meet.
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Qualifies: Ten athletes account for all 269 entries; one has 36 of the 74 wins and two have 54. One entry is from 1977.
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Qualifies: 193 entries (61 wins) were at regular-season meets, 51 (10 wins) at district, regional or league championships and 13 (2 wins) at state championships.
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Qualifies: Of the 269 entries, 74 won, 82 were second or third, 71 fourth to tenth, 37 eleventh or lower and 5 disqualified or unplaced.
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Washington meets from 2022, WIAA sports and individual events only: 200 entries, 55 wins and 113 top three by eight athletes. 52 entries are relays.
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FactHub record
FactHub.
Sample check against official and independent results (saved analysis)
FactHub's check of 18 entries against WIAA official results and MileSplit results pages.
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17 of 18 checked entries matched official or independent results (5 at team level for relays); one listed as 4th was an exhibition entry.
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FactHub record
FactHub Research Team.
Saved analysis: participation per 1,000, law states vs. no-law states
FactHub's count of girls' high school sports participation per 1,000, in states with laws limiting girls' teams to female students and in states without, from its separate participation check.
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Qualifies: In the 24 states with laws like I-638's team rule, girls' participation per 1,000 rose from 370.1 in 2018-19 to 401.8 in 2025-26; in states without such laws it was flat (453.4 to 452.7).
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News report
Marathon Handbook.
Camas Girls Walk Off Race Over Transgender Teammate (Jessy Carveth, October 17, 2026)
Running-news report on walkouts by girls at southwest Washington cross-country meets in 2026.
Reliability: Running news and coaching site; it does not name the transgender runner, a minor. Counts of runners vary between reports.
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Qualifies: In October 2026, about a dozen runners on a Washington high school cross-country team forfeited a race rather than compete alongside a transgender teammate.
What the source says
About a dozen of its runners walked roughly 50 meters and then left the course, forfeiting the race to protest a transgender teammate
Second paragraph
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Party to the dispute
Alliance Defending Freedom (counsel for applicants).
K.M.K. v. Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, Application No. 26A458 for an injunction pending appeal (October 2, 2026)
A Washington girls' wrestler's emergency application to the U.S. Supreme Court, quoting her school district's reply to her family.
Reliability: Has a stake in this finding. Filed by the wrestler's lawyers; the district's words are quoted from a lower-court record. The wrestler is a minor identified by initials.
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Qualifies: A Washington district told a girls' wrestler's family that its only remedy was letting her forfeit matches against transgender opponents without district penalty.
What the source says
the only remedy the district can offer is that [K.M.K.] would be able to forfeit any such matches without any adverse consequences imposed by the district.
Statement of the case, quoting 4-ER-781
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FactHub dataset
Initiative 638: the campaigns' claims in their own words
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Washington competition results document at least 269 placements by male athletes competing in girls' interscholastic categories, including 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes.
Committee for the argument for Initiative IL26-638 (Alesha Perkins and five co-authors), Authors of the official voters' pamphlet argument for IL26-638, · In the dataset -
This statewide blanket ban to kick 5 - 10 trans girls off school teams will negatively impact all girls, leaving no room for case by case decisions.
Committee for the argument against Initiative IL26-638 (Justin Gill, APRN, and five co-authors), Authors of the official voters' pamphlet argument against IL26-638, · In the dataset
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FactHub dataset
Washington girls' school events entered by male-born athletes, as tallied by HeCheated.org (anonymized)
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Tables: entries
Saved analysis headline
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Tables: entries
Saved analysis by-athlete
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Tables: entries
Saved analysis meet-totals
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Tables: entries
Saved analysis finish-distribution
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Tables: entries
Saved analysis scope-sensitivity
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Tables: verification
Saved analysis verification-summary
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- FactHub chart wa-girls-event-entries-by-athlete
- FactHub chart wa-girls-event-entries-by-meet-type
Update history
- First version.
- Version 2: removed the event, classification and years that together identified one athlete's state titles from the key points, evidence, objections, conclusion and source descriptions (the substance, two WIAA girls' state track titles in 2024 and 2025, is unchanged); cites dataset and chart version 2, which drop race classifications; linked the other I-638 fact checks and the latest genital-exam check. Rating and counts unchanged.
- Version 3: cites dataset and chart version 3, which fix a file declaration that blocked publication. Content unchanged.
- Updated related links to the final versions of sibling articles.
- Re-rated the No argument's sentence 'This statewide blanket ban to kick 5 - 10 trans girls off school teams will negatively impact all girls, leaving no room for case by case decisions' from Mostly true to Misleading, rating the whole sentence: the count is about right and 'no room for case by case' is accurate, but 'off school teams' overstates (only girls' teams are affected) and 'will negatively impact all girls' is an unsupported forecast (participation rose in states with similar rules, and some girls now forfeit rather than compete). Added sources for those two points. Updated related links to the final versions of sibling articles. Lead claim and rating unchanged.
Cited by
- Article A doctor's checkbox could satisfy I-638 for most girls; the box is new.
- Article Few mainstream I-638 news stories reported the facts that answer opponents
- Article Girls' sports participation rose in states that passed laws like I-638.
- Article Individuals fund most of I-638's Yes side; a foundation and unions fund No.
- Article Initiative 638 requires sex verification for girls, not an invasive exam.
- Article Washington's rules let transgender girls compete in girls' school sports.
- Briefing I-638: what it does, and what each side claims
Version details
The exact citing versions, and the version of this article each cites.
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Article
wa-i638-yes-campaign-claims— version 2 (published)cites version 5 -
Article
wa-i638-media-coverage-omissions— version 6 (published)cites version 5 -
Article
girls-sports-participation-after-state-laws— version 6 (published)cites version 5 -
Article
wa-i638-campaign-funding— version 5 (published)cites version 5 -
Article
wa-i638-officials-exam-claims— version 3 (published)cites version 5 -
Article
wa-i638-current-rules— version 4 (published)cites version 5 -
Briefing
wa-i-638— version 5 (published)cites version 5 -
Briefing
wa-i-638— version 4 (published)cites version 5
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{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"ClaimReview","url":"https://facthub.org/n/article/wa-i638-girls-event-placements/5","datePublished":"2026-10-23","dateModified":"2026-10-23","author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"FactHub","url":"https://facthub.org/"},"claimReviewed":"Washington competition results document at least 269 placements by male athletes competing in girls\u0027 interscholastic categories, including 74 firsts and 156 top-three finishes.","reviewRating":{"@type":"Rating","alternateName":"Mostly true"},"image":"https://facthub.org/node-assets-v2/article/wa-i638-girls-event-placements/5/starting-blocks/social-1200x630.jpg"}This metadata helps machines discover the fact-check. It does not prove the conclusion or guarantee special treatment by a search engine.
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