University of Pennsylvania transgender swimmer Lia Thomas was crushed in two female events over the weekend by a competitor who is transition from female to male.
“Transgender University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas was crushed twice in a women's swim meet by another transgender competitor who is transitioning from female to male - first in the 100-yard freestyle, where she placed fifth, and then again in the 400-yard freestyle relay.
Competing against Ivy League rivals Dartmouth and Yale, Thomas won the first of her four races by just two seconds - one month after she shattered two women's records with a 38-second margin against her closest competitor. She also narrowly won the 500-yard freestyle by a second, with bystanders telling DailyMail.com that she seemed to be 'coasting' and 'barely trying'.
But stunned parents at the meet held at UPenn's pool in Philadelphia gasped as Yale swimmer Iszac Henig easily beat out his opponents in the women's 100-yard freestyle with a time of 49.57 seconds. Thomas finished fifth with a time of 52.84 seconds.
Henig, a 20-year-old from Palo Alto, California, has delayed hormone treatments to finish his career on Yale's women's team as he transitions from female to male.
In the women's 400-yard freestyle relay, Henig again crushed Thomas and his other competitors, finishing in 50.45 seconds to power Yale to victory in the meet. Thomas finished her leg of the race in 51.94 seconds.
Henig also finished first in the 50-yard freestyle in a time of 22.76. After the race, Henig, who has had surgery to remove his breasts, pulled down the top of his swimsuit, shocking some parents at the meet.”
A number of parents of Ivy League swimmers tell Fox News while they have empathy for Thomas’ case, they feel that it’s not fair to the female swimmers.
"It starts with the NCAA," two parents of a Penn swimmer on the women's team told Fox News. "I think the NCAA needs to change its policies, and find a way to include transgender women without trampling all over biological women," the parents said.
Another Penn swimming parent, Sue Feldman, said: "I think that this is obviously an issue and they should probably just look at how they're going to handle it and maybe handle it better in the future because right now they're not handling it so well."…
The Dartmouth swimming parent said he felt for Thomas, but "it's not fair to girls that have swum since they were 6 years old to compete...for someone who had a chance at winning the Ivy League Championship and that dream is shattered."