CAMAS, Clark County — A transgender runner on the Camas High School girls cross-country team, who has been at the center of political controversy in recent weeks, placed second at a district meet in Southwest Washington on Wednesday afternoon. She helped her team secure the district title.

The transgender runner, who The Seattle Times is not naming because she is a minor who has not given her consent to be identified, became the focus of online posts drawing attention to her participation on the girls team earlier this month. The transgender athlete competed in the boys category during the first race of the season before switching to the girls category in a Sept. 15 race and onward.

Last week, more than a dozen Camas runners walked off the start line in protest of their transgender teammate’s participation and others have decided to forgo the rest of their season. Opponents of transgender girls competing in youth sports organized a “Camas Courage” rally to support “girls’ sports and fair play” ahead of the district meet.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association, the state’s governing body for interscholastic sports, has a longstanding policy that allows student-athletes to compete in the category consistent with their gender identity. Both the WIAA and school district have said the student’s participation has not violated any rules.

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John Gallagher, a spokesperson with the No Hate in WA State campaign, which opposes the ballot measure, said the initiative “sets up all female student-athletes to potentially be in a vulnerable, dangerous position” with genital exams he said they may find uncomfortable and warned that it might discourage girls from participating in sports altogether.

Gallagher, a former cross-country coach and educator based in Seattle, said that “this particular policy really does not solve anything” and added it makes him upset for all athletes, transgender or not, because “high school sports are meant to be about personal growth and becoming a better person and being a student-athlete.”