Opinion
Lia Thomas, Penn bounce into Ivy League Championships with third place end in 800-yard freestyle relay
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Lia Thomas and the Penn Quakers received their first style of the Ivy League Swimming and Diving Championships on Wednesday evening.
Whereas there have been no particular person races throughout the evening, Thomas was part of the workforce’s 800-yard freestyle relay with Margot Kaczorowski, Anna Sofia Kalandadze and Bridget O’Leary.
Penn’s Lia Thomas warms up earlier than the workforce relay occasions on the Ivy League Ladies’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Harvard College, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(AP Photograph/Mary Schwalm)
Thomas, a senior, swam the primary leg of the relay and received a little bit of a problem from Yale’s Iszac Henig, who’s transitioning from a feminine to a male. Thomas swam behind Henig for a lot of the primary leg earlier than the following Penn swimmer jumped into the water.
Thomas was barely in first place after the primary leg, ending with a 1:44.50 whereas Henig had a 1:44.65.
By the third leg, Harvard jumped out to guide after coming again in opposition to Penn within the second leg. As the ultimate leg began, Harvard and Yale have been Nos. 1 and a couple of, with Penn falling again into third place.
Harvard would maintain onto the lead, with Yale ending in second place and Penn in third.
TRANSGENDER LIA THOMAS WILL BE ELIGIBLE TO COMPETE AT CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS, IVY LEAGUE CONFIRMS
Penn’s Lia Thomas leads the workforce in a cheer earlier than the relay occasions on the Ivy League Ladies’s Swimming and Diving Championships at Harvard College, Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(AP Photograph/Mary Schwalm)
On the awards ceremony, followers may very well be heard cheering for the Quakers because the workforce was introduced for third place. Thomas and her teammates have been posing for footage whereas on the medals stand.
Penn completed in fifth place within the 200-yard medley. Princeton received that occasion.
The Ivy League Championships are set to run from Wednesday to Saturday. Harvard is main the championships general with Princeton, Yale, Penn and Brown rounding out the highest 5.
Thomas, who has been drawn into the nationwide highlight as a result of debate over whether or not transgender feminine athletes ought to have the ability to compete in opposition to organic females in sporting occasions. She obtained the all-clear to compete within the convention championships within the days main as much as it.
Penn transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, proper competes within the 200 meter freestyle throughout an NCAA school swimming meet with Harvard on Saturday, Jan. 22, 2022, at Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
(AP Photograph/Josh Reynolds)
She is anticipated to compete in a number of particular person occasions over the course of the week, together with the 200 free, 500 free, 1,000 free and 1,650 free.
