Rough Waters: NCAA Women's Swimming Championships Allows Transgender Athlete

A transgender athlete is shaking up collegiate women's swimming with concerns for how new rules might affect female athletes in other sports.

As a male athlete, Will Thomas ranked #462 in the NCAA while swimming for the University of Pennsylvania men's team for three seasons.

Now competing as a female in the 2021-2022 season, Lia Thomas has set multiple program records, ranks #1, and has qualified for the NCAA Div. 1 women's swimming and diving championships March 16 -19.

In December, Thomas talked about the transition on a SwimSwam podcast, beginning with hormone replacement therapy in May 2019.

"I'm just thrilled to be able to continue to swim. I love to compete," said the athlete. "I'm very proud of my times and my ability to keep swimming and keep competing."

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But Thomas' teammates are not in agreement about having a transgender athlete on the team. Sixteen members of the team sent a letter to the University of Pennsylvania in protest of Thomas competing at the NCAA championships.

Some other veterans of the swimming community have joined them, like Cynthia Millen, a USA swimming official, and referee for over 30 years. She resigned late last year saying she can't support a sport that allows biological men to compete alongside women.

Speaking on a podcast with Megyn Kelly she said allowing transgender athletes in women's sports is inherently unfair.

"No matter how much testosterone suppression drugs Lia may take, Lia will always be swimming in a man's body," she said. "Men will always swim 8 to 12 percent faster than women. They have larger lung capacity. They have larger skeletons."

The NCAA recently ruled that Thomas can compete in the March championships, despite a new USA Swimming rule that requires three years of suppressed testosterone. That rule would have disqualified Thomas from competing against women this spring.

The College Swimming and Diving Coaches Association supports Thomas at the championships. One coach, Rice University's Seth Huston opposes it, however, as does former USC head swim coach Dave Salo.

Salo told CBN News that Thomas is taking opportunities away from female swimmers.

"I do think the consequence of allowing Lia to compete at the NCAA championships compromises more than one individual," he said. "The person who comes second to Lia. It's the person who doesn't advance into the final 8 because Lia is in the competition. It's the athlete who doesn't advance to the top 16 which is also a point-scoring position."

The debate over trans athletes appears to be picking up steam as athletes like Thomas make the stakes clear.

As CBN News reported earlier this month, South Dakota is now the 10th state with a law protecting female athletes.

And in Iowa, a high school track star wrote an op-ed for the Des Moines Register, calling on the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union to protect female athletes. "Stop asking others to do your job for you," wrote senior Ainsley Erzen, "and be bold enough and brave enough to stand up for the hundreds of girls who rely on you to be able to continue to do what they love."