Trans Swimmer Lia Thomas Romps at Ivy Championships

Lia Thomas, the University of Pennsylvania swimmer who started competing on the women's team after transitioning to female, won all four of the races she competed in last week at the Ivy League championships, three individual (in which she also set Ivy records) plus the team relay. That means she's headed next to the NCAA finals, NBC News reports. Thomas has become a subject of controversy, with some teammates anonymously expressing full support of the swimmer while at least 16 of them anonymously expressed opposition to her competing on the women's team.

Among those she beat at the Ivy championships was Iszac Henig, a Yale student who is a trans male delaying hormone therapy so he can continue competing on the women's team, Metro Weekly reports. Henig also won an event in which Thomas did not compete, and set his own pool record. Both are eligible to compete on the women's team under current NCAA rules, though USA Swimming has different rules for elite-level athletes. As NCAA athletes, Thomas and Henig are exempt. CNN offers a long look at how Thomas, who previously swam for the University of Pennsylvania's men's team, "became the face of the debate on transgender women in sports." (More swimming stories.)