PASCO — Dozens of cross-country spikes dug into the ground just behind the white start line drawn onto the grass at Sun Willows Golf Course on Saturday. Parents readied their cameras.

“Have a great race, and do your best,” an announcer said as a race official walked down the line to check that no one had crept over the edge.

The starter’s pistol fired moments later, and the girls in the 4A state cross-country championship race were off.

This year’s state final came on the heels of a midterm election where voters in Washington approved Initiative 638, a ballot measure that will ban transgender girls from competing in K-12 girls sports. It also requires that all girls wanting to compete in girls’ individual or team sports submit documentation from a healthcare provider that “verifies the student’s biological sex,” according to the initiative’s text.

Eyes were on Saturday’s race, where a team of seven runners from Camas High School, including a transgender girl, competed for the final time this season.…