Penn and Lia Thomas Scheduled to Return to Racing Today
The University of Pennsylvania women’s swim team will return to competition on Saturday, serving as host to Yale and Dartmouth in Ivy League action. The meet will mark the latest races of Penn’s Lia Thomas, a transgender female whose participation as part of a women’s team has been a controversial topic over the past month. The tri-meet is scheduled for Noon at Sheerr Pool.
In her last meet, in early December, Thomas produced a pair of nation-leading times at the Zippy Invitational at the University of Akron. In addition to swimming 1:41.93 in the 200-yard freestyle and 4:34.06 in the 500 freestyle, she also won the 1650 freestyle by 38 seconds. While Thomas has met the NCAA requirements of one year of hormone-therapy suppression, the controversy surrounding her focuses on whether her male-puberty advantage has been mitigated.
On Thursday, the Ivy League and the University of Pennsylvania issued statements in support of Thomas, noting that she has met NCAA requirements and should not be discriminated against. Opposition to Thomas’ participation argue that her presence is unfair to biological females.
Thomas, who was a three-year member of the men’s program at Penn before transitioning, is already qualified for the NCAA Championships in the 200 freestyle and 500 freestyle and is expected to be a leading contender for titles at the March meet. Penn has scheduled meets against Harvard and West Chester later this month, with the Ivy League Championships scheduled for February.