High School Girls Defy Nike And Newsom, Earn ‘Courage Wins’ Awards For Defending Women’s Sports

Three years ago, NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines declared October 10 “XX Day,” an opportunity to celebrate female athletes who refuse to bow to radical left-wing gender ideology. 

This October 10, the XX-XY Athletics Fund announced several new 2025 Courage Wins Champions from a group of young women who hail from two of the most radical states in the nation, Oregon and California.

These female athletes didn’t just talk about fairness in sports. They put their names, reputations, and safety on the line to defend it.

They are high school athletes with no publicists or powerful sponsors backing them up. But despite the mainstream media and other powerful forces opposing them, these athletes stood proudly for the truth.

Jennifer Sey, the founder and CEO of XX-XY Athletics, says that deep personal conviction is contagious. 

“At a time when threats and bullying have escalated to violence, we are more determined than ever to use our voices and to reward those brave enough to use theirs to stand up for truth and biological reality,” Sey told The Daily Wire of the new winners.

“We need more speech, not less,” she added. “So we’re doubling down and awarding more winners than ever.” Sey added that these athletes are fighting “giants” like Nike and California Governor Gavin Newsom from “ground zero of the battle for fairness in sports.”

She went on, “It’s also notable that today is the deadline for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to honor the sex-based rights of women in his state or cave to ideological bullies’ demands. He’s a coach and he knows the realities of sport. Young athletes like Kendall Kotzmacher are saving the day so high school girls won’t be erased and humiliated in their own sport.”

“By acknowledging and celebrating these brave young women, we hope to encourage more to stand up in defense of women’s sports as well,” Sey concluded.

Oregon is a state where track and field reigns supreme and where Nike, one of the most aggressively “gender progressive” sports brands, is headquartered. This is where five high school girls made a stand that challenged their state’s athletic programs.

Reese Eckard, Maddie Eischen, and Sophia Carpenter refused to compete against a male athlete at the Chehalem Track and Field Classic last spring. They knew it might cost them friends, rankings, and potentially their athletic futures, but they did it anyway.

XX-XY Athletics

“I am so grateful for the support XX-XY Athletics has given me as I speak out for fairness in girls’ sports.   I’ve gained so much courage from the other athletes here in Oregon who are also standing up for equal opportunity. Thank you to XX-XY for empowering me to share the truth. Together, our message becomes even stronger,” Eckard said in a statement. 

Their act of defiance sparked something bigger. When All-American runner Sophia Castañeda, the fastest female sophomore in Oregon history in the 400m, lost to a male athlete and was bullied for speaking up, she joined forces with the others. Together, they filed suit against the Oregon Schools Athletic Association.

XX-XY Athletics

And that’s not all. In a now-viral image, Alexa Anderson and Eckard can be seen stepping off the podium after a male competitor was crowned the girls’ state high jump champion. 

“I just didn’t think that it’s fair to biological females to allow and encourage biological males to compete among us, not only for myself and the other girl that stepped down, but the girl who should have been on the podium and the girl who didn’t even get to go to state because she was beaten by a biological male at districts,” Anderson said. 

“It is not about hate or transphobia at all. It’s about protecting women’s rights and their right to fair and equal competition within sports,” she said.

These are high schoolers fighting the same multi-billion-dollar sports industry that silenced adult Olympians. Their courage didn’t just win applause. It earned them the title of 2025 Courage Wins Champions.

Over in California, the ideological capital of this cultural madness, Governor Newsom’s administration is suing the federal government to preserve policies that force girls to compete against biological males. 

At Jurupa Valley High School, three teenage girls, including sisters Alyssa and Madison McPherson and their teammate Hadeel Hazameh, are refusing to play along.

XX-XY Athletics

“Standing up for what’s right shows more strength than any win or medal ever could,” Hazameh said of their efforts.

They’ve faced everything from online harassment to physical intimidation to threats against their faith. Still, they joined a lawsuit against their school district and the California Department of Education, demanding what should never have been controversial: that girls deserve their own sports.

“It’s not always easy to speak up, but that’s what makes it so powerful. Taking a stand shows other girls that they can be strong, fearless and true to themselves,” Alyssa McPherson said.

Courage Wins Award winners receive up to $5,000 and a spot in a leadership program designed to help them continue speaking up without being punished financially or socially.

That’s the heart of what Sey and XX-XY Athletics are building: a movement that makes standing for truth possible again.

Previous honorees include Brooke Slusser, Lauren Miller, Payton McNabb, Emmy Salerno, Stephanie Turner, Sia Liilii, and the Lincoln Middle School Five, a group of middle schoolers who took on adults and won.

The girls honored this year didn’t ask to be activists; they were just seeking fair competition. But they were unafraid to call out injustice when they saw it, rather than going away quietly. 

The Goliaths they’re fighting, Nike, Newsom, and every screeching activist with a platform, should take note. Because these brave Davids are the new face of women’s sports. 

As Sey put it, “We’re not done yet.”