17 MM - 2003 Tiffany Wiley

 {17} Opinion - State, National, International 

Lia Thomas becomes the first transgender woman to win an NCAA swimming championship. 

Lia Thomas was the 2022 NCAA Division I champion for the fastest swimmer. Ms. Thomas victory in the 500-yard women's final did not receive special recognition. There was no booming proclamations, or loud cheering in the audiences. When her name was announced as the race's winner, the Arena was filled with silence, "polite applause" as reporter's say. Her presence throughout a fifth-year senior season which she competed as a woman for the first time has drawn considerable attention - along with several protesters outside the swim arena's entrance - her NCAA title was treated as routine. 

[ Sally Jenkin's: Lia Thomas's swimming is getting swamped in other's fears ] 

Lia's winning time of 4:33.24 seconds was unremarkable and well behind Katie Ledecky's NCAA record of 4:24:.06 in 2017. Although she doesn't have the world record officially, most people still disagree with her successes. 

"I try to ignore everything as much as I can," Thomas told an EPSN interviewer immediately after her race. "I just try to focus on my swimming and do what I need to do to get ready for my race and just try to block out everything else."

As Thomas took her stand on the podium, she stood nervously accepting her trophy. She gave a small smile and stepped down right after they called her named. Most of the other swimmers on the podium clapped silently, but other than them there was no interaction with the award give away. The three women who finished behind her posed for a group photo as Thomas stood by herself and said nothing.

Although the atmosphere inside the arena was generally polite, tension lingered outside as several members of a group called Save Women's Sports stood along the walkway holding signs and occasionally chanting "Save women's sports."

During a rally not long after Thomas breezed through her morning heat to reach the final, several of the group's members attacked Thomas's presence at the race, complaining that she should not be competing despite meeting the NCAA'S medical requirements for a transgender person to race against women. 

"If we don't stop this and put an end to this, we will no longer have girls' and woman's sports," said former Cal State Fullerton women's basketball coach Barbara Ehardt.  

A group of students from the LGBTQ organizations stood across a small road from the Save Women's Sports protesters, occasionally shouting support for Thomas. Campus police officers tried to keep the two groups apart, though some members did have heated discussions and a few students who appeared headed into the center threw up middle fingers toward the Save Women's Sports protesters.

"As of now, everyone is in this competition, and I think that maybe like any, hate is unnecessary. We are all competitors now, and we are focused on ourselves and our team," Virginia swimmer Lexi Cuomo announced.   

Hate to tell you, but in a way, everyone id trans." As writer T Cooper observed, all of us in life's competitive arena are on the way to becoming someone profoundly different than we are, and keeping score is just a way to track the arc of a person from youth to prime.