Penn swimmer Lia Thomas smiles after finishing first in the 500 freestyle race during the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships on Thursday, March 17, 2022. - Heather Khalifa/The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS
Swimmer Lia Thomas, who became the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship earlier this year, has been nominated for the 2022 NCAA Woman of the Year Award. The 22-year-old athlete was one of 577 graduating student-athletes from Divisions I, II and II to be nominated for the prestigious award, the National Collegiate Athletic Association said Thursday in a news release. Thomas was nominated for the honor by the University of Pennsylvania, from which she graduated in May. The Woman of the Year award recognizes female student-athletes “who have exhausted t...
