Minnesota human rights law lets transgender athletes compete in sports consistent with their gender identity and it supersedes President Donald Trump’s recent executive order banning transgender athletes from women’s sports, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said on Thursday.

Ellison’s opinion comes after the Minnesota State High School League asked his office for formal advice on the matter. The state high school league is currently being investigated by the Trump administration after the league said it would follow state law regarding transgender students.

Trump signed an executive order, but Ellison said that because it lacked congressional authority or a statutory mandate, it did not take precedence over state law.

Specifically, he concluded that the Minnesota State High School League would violate the Minnesota Human Rights Act if it went along with the Trump order and prevented transgender athletes from participating in high school sports or other activities.

The high school league on Thursday acknowledged receiving Ellison’s opinion but had no other immediate comment.

League officials have said that the Minnesota Human Rights Act and Equal Protection Clause of the Minnesota Constitution prohibit discrimination against persons based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

The high school league policy has been in place for a decade. While the initial policy was controversial, supporters say it’s operated quietly and successfully over the decade. The league is a nonprofit voluntary association that governs interscholastic sports and other activities at high schools in Minnesota.

League officials last week signaled it would stay in place following Trump’s executive order but noted they would “continue to review the existing state laws alongside the new Presidential Executive Order.”

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Days after the high school league’s announcement, the federal Education Department said it needed to investigate. In a statement, Craig Trainor, the Education Department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, dismissed the high school’s league’s intention to follow Minnesota law and constitution as “meaningless virtue-signaling.”

The fourth-ranked Gophers women’s hockey team entered the final weekend of the regular season on Friday night at Ridder Arena coming off what could prove to be the most important 20 minutes of its season.

Playing on the road last weekend, Minnesota scored twice in the third period to beat St. Cloud State 2-1 and end a four-game losing streak that included three one-sided losses. For the comeback to prove pivotal, however, the Gophers would have to step up against the No. 6 Minnesota Duluth Bulldogs, a team they had swept in November, in hopes of building
momentum for the postseason.

Overcoming a slow start and surviving a late scare, the Gophers got the job done Friday night, beating the Bulldogs 3-2.

“After losing four in a row, which I later found out was for first time in program history, we knew it was going to be hard to try to get out of it,” Gophers coach Brad Frost said. “Getting two in the third against a very good defensive team kind of springboarded us and got us going back going in the right direction.”

Gophers fifth-year senior forward Natalie Mlynkova, who missed the last two games due to an undisclosed injury, provided what proved to be the winning goal in the second period, which gave the Gophers a 3-1 lead. The transfer from Vermont said the importance of Friday’s game was not lost on the players.

“We’ve been facing some adversity for sure,” Mlynkova said. “Better that it came now than in the playoffs. Everything happens for a reason, and I think maybe we needed that little warning.

“We took it to heart, and I hope we can learn from it and move on.”

Mlynkova’s goal was her 14th of the season, a total that undoubtedly would be higher if not for a series of injury and health issues.

“She’s such an impact player,” Frost said. “I think she’s one of the best in the country when she’s healthy.”

Like the Gophers (24-9-1, 18-8-1 WCHA), Mlynkova might be trending in the right direction just in time.

“I told the girls in the locker room that I feel better today than I have in the last five months,” she said. “It’s been a heck of a year for me personally; lots of adversity. I’ve been playing through things for a very long time, and eventually it took me out of the game.

“I just hope I’m on the right track now. I’m building to being 100%, and I’m very close to that. No doubt, I’m going to be there very soon.”

Despite being outplayed during the first half of the first period on Friday, the Gophers took a 1-0 lead at 14:52. Emma Kreisz carried the puck out of the right-wing corner in the Duluth zone and flipped backhand past Bulldogs goaltender Eve Gascon for her seventh goal of the season.

“We were turning some pucks over, and we needed to filter pucks to the net instead of trying to make passes,” Frost said. “But getting that first one was big.”

The Bulldogs tied the game just over two minutes later when Olivia Wallin picked up a loose puck in the slot and slid it past Gophers goaltender Hannah Clark.

The Gophers scored the only two goals of the second period. Ella Huber collected her 12th of the season at 6:40 before Mlynkova scored what can only be described as a goal-scorer’s goal. Taking a pass along the right-wing board in the Bulldogs’ zone, she cut into the slot, held the puck for an extra beat and ripped a wrist shot past Gascon.

“I try to have the poise when I have the time to do that,” Mlynkova said. “I was just glad that I was able to finish on my shot there and it helped us to get the win.”

The Bulldogs (19-12-2, 14-11-2) cut the Gophers’ lead to 3-2 at 16:52 of the third period and pulled their goaltender in the final minute, but the Gophers defended well in the closing seconds.

While their focus will be on taking care of business against the Bulldogs on Saturday, the Gophers also will have an eye on Ohio State’s game against St. Cloud State.

“There’s always national tournament implications when you play top opponents like this,” Frost said. “And also (in the conference); if we win and St. Cloud wins, we can move up to the two spot.

“We’re guaranteed the three spot, which is good, but any time you can move up in the standings or in the national picture we want to do that.”

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It doesn’t get much closer than the Class 2A state team gymnastics meet on Friday at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul.

Cretin-Derham Hall held a slim advantage over Owatonna and New Prague heading into the final two rotations of the evening. The problem for the Raiders was their last event of the night was uneven bars, which was the lowest-scoring event across all teams throughout the meet.

The Raiders delivered, recording a 35.550 on uneven bars, the best score of the night on the apparatus, thanks to a monster score from star senior Delaney Cunnington, the defending state champ in the event. But even that wasn’t quite enough to hold off New Prague, who threw down a 37.225 on floor, the second-best score on that event of the evening, which vaulted the Trojans’ into first place, a mere .025 better than the Raiders.

All that was standing between New Prague and a state title at that point? Owatonna.

The Huskies’ last event of the night was the always anxiety-inducing balance beam, and Owatonna needed better than a 36.8 on the event to edge the Trojans.

And they delivered it.

The Huskies were nearly flawless on the beam, scoring a 37.2 — the best score on the event by nearly a half point — to win the program’s first team state title.

Owatonna was a late-charging title contender, who improved exponentially down the stretch run of the season. It posted its first 147 of the season at the Big 9 Conference meet, then delivered a 148.675 at the Class 2A, Section 1 meet to top defending state champion Lakeville South. The Huskies battled injuries all season and never could seem to get to full strength until it mattered most.

“They got healthy, and then we just kept working, working, working on the small things with bars, beam and even cleaning up vaults,” Owatonna coach Evan Moe said. “Just turned it on when they needed to at the end of the day.”

Owatonna won the meet with a total of 146.825. The beam was the primary difference between the Huskies and New Prague, who was second with a 146.450 after enduring a few slips on the beam.

“You win or lose meets on beam all the time,” Moe said.

Cretin-Derham Hall was third with a 146.425. The Raiders’ score was a 1.5 points better than what they recorded at last year’s state meet, when they finished as runners up to Lakeville South. Cunnington said Friday may have represented the team’s best score of the season.

“It’s just really exciting to see how (the program) has grown over the years and to see how all of our hard work has really paid off,” Cunnington said. “We just wanted to have a bunch of fun, and it paid off. It’s just so fun to see everyone do good.”

Owatonna finished runner up to Lakeville South in sections a year ago. Its score in that meet would’ve also been good enough for a second-place state finish. The Huskies have made five state meet appearances in Moe’s tenure. They’ve taken third place, he noted, four times.

Now, they’re atop the mountain.

“It’s been like right on the edge. We’ve always been in the hunt,” Moe said. “And we’re just proud, so proud of them.”

Class A

Detroit Lakes claimed its sixth team title in program history, winning the Class A meet with a score of 145.625. Monticello was second with a 144.775, while Breck was third with a 144.000.

Detroit Lakes separated itself with a vault score of 37.575.

The individual state meet — with the all-around competition and the event finals — will take place Saturday in St. Paul.