HS state champion sprinter Clara Adams sues CIF over stripped 2025 title for fire extinguisher celebration

Former North Salinas High sprinter Clara Adams has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the California Interscholastic Federation after the organization stripped her of her 2025 state 400-meter title for spraying a fire extinguisher on her shoes during a post-race celebration. The lawsuit, announced Tuesday in Los Angeles, accuses the CIF of violating Adams' due process and First Amendment rights and seeks reinstatement of her title, record corrections, and damages. Adams, who reclaimed the 400-meter state title three days before filing the suit, said she wants her original championship recognized despite her recent victories.

Getting your Trinity Audio //trinityaudio.ai player ready...LOS ANGELES – A year after having her state track and field 400-meter title stripped from her https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/02/fire-extinguisher-state-track-title/ , and three days after gaining a measure of redemption https://www.mercurynews.com/2026/05/28/cif-state-track-former-north-salinas-sprinter-adams-back-to-make-amends/ by reclaiming that title on the track, former North Salinas High sprinter Clara Adams https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/02/clara-adams-north-salinas-cif-track-ab-hernandez-transgender-athlete/ is suing the California Interscholastic Federation. The Adams family has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Fresno against the CIF for stripping her of the 400 state title https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/06/10/clara-adams-fire-extinguisher-california-track-field-championships-touch-national-nerve/ after the race in 2025. The CIF disqualified her for what was deemed an excessive celebration after she took a fire extinguisher and sprayed her shoes on the infield, away from her competitors. She was also disqualified from running the 200 later that evening. The lawsuit was announced on Tuesday in Los Angeles in a 35-minute press conference https://www.instagram.com/p/DZGCbq9j0-8/ . It accused the CIF of denying Adams her due process and First Amendment rights. The lawsuit seeks restoration of her 2025 CIF 400-meter title, correction of the records and expungement the disciplinary action, damages and legal costs. “Clara’s celebration was harmless, brief and rooted in the history of the sport,” said family civil rights attorney Adante Pointer of Oakland’s Pointer & Buelna of Oakland. “You humiliated a teenage girl who had just won the greatest victory in her career.” Adams and her father have since moved to Long Beach, where she attends Long Beach Wilson. Saturday, the 17-year-old won state track and field titles in the 200 and 400, and ran a leg on the state-winning 1,600 relay team. “Today was about bringing back something that shouldn’t be hidden,” Adams said. “I’m really happy with my performance this past week. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t hide the fact of what happened last year. While I feel better and winning those titles take a lot of weight off me, there is still something I’m missing, and that’s my first state title. I want that recognized and reinstated.” Because Adams was disqualified from the meet in 2025 after winning the 400, she was not able to run the 200, where she was among the favorites during her sophomore season at North Salinas. “She’ll never get that race back,” said Adams’ father David. “This is for the people before us and after us. It shook my child and it shook me. That’s a problem.” Repeated attempts to reach the CIF for comment were not successful. The CIF has not publicly commented on the situation. “Her sportsmanship is beyond reproach,” Pointer said. “She won the race, the race was certified, and the CIF took it away from her in a disgraceful act.” Adams’ celebration was a tribute to former U.S. Olympic sprinter Maurice Greene, who used a fire extinguisher to spray his shoes after winning the U.S. Olympic Trials in 2004. Greene has come to Adams’ defense, along with other high-profile athletes. The incident also helped Adams earn a name, image and likeness deal with the podcast “Politely Raw.” “This was a moment that should have belonged to Clara, her family, her team and the crowd that watched her win,” Pointer added. “The CIF has had every opportunity to correct this over the past year. This lawsuit asks a jury to restore what Clara earned, clear her record, and affirm the fact that student-athletes have constitutional rights.” Adams, who went on to win National Junior Olympic titles last summer in the 200 and 400, is being heavily recruited by some of the top college track and field programs in the nation, including LSU, Miami, USC, UCLA, Tennessee and Houston. “We picked up where we left off and made a transition and adapted,” said David Adams, who also has coached his daughter. “It was a coaching-athlete challenge. “I’m proud of how she took the challenge. It changed her demeanor and life. It’s not just about track. It’s life off the track.” Her times last year at North Salinas in the 200 and 400 are the fastest in county history, breaking the marks of Monterey grad Sani Roseby, who went on to compete in two U.S. Olympic Trials. “The CIF formally certified that the win was hers,” Pointer added. “Once they did that, that win, that gold medal, became her objectively earned property. They had no right to seize that property from her afterwards. Clara earned this win through her own sweat, training and focus.” Adams’ achievements at last week’s state championships mark the first time in 26 years that a California high school female sprinter has won the state 200 and 400 title, the last being Olympian Monique Henderson, who still holds the CIF state record in the 400. “It was so surreal to be back on that podium,” said Adams, who was fourth in the 400 as a freshman at the state finals in 2024. “It was a very wholesome moment. To stand on it, not once, not twice, but three times, I finally got to enjoy something I earned. I was thinking about how I did not get to be up here last year.” Adams’ disqualification last year garnered national media attention. The NAACP and the Monterey County Board of Supervisors declared Aug. 19 Clara Adams Day in Salinas. Earlier this year, Adams ran the third fastest high school 400-meter time in California history at 51.98 seconds. She won the state 200 title in 23.40. The national high school record in the 400 was set in 2002 by Sanya Richards of Aquinas High in Fort Lauderdale, as she clocked 50.69.