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After the University of Pennsylvania agreed to erase all program records set by former transgender swimmer Lia Thomas, questions arose about how the NCAA will address Thomas’ NCAA title.
Thomas won the 500-yard freestyle at the 2022 NCAA championships with a time of 4:33.24.
Thomas also finished in the top 10 in a number of other events, denying higher finishes to female competitors. While UPenn has wiped those records from its books, Thomas’ finishes still stand nationally.
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Riley Gaines is sworn in during a House Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services hearing on Capitol Hill Dec. 5, 2023, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Former University of Kentucky swimmer and OutKick host Riley Gaines, who tied for fifth place against Thomas in that year’s 200-yard freestyle, is leading a lawsuit against the NCAA for its policies that allowed Thomas to compete. One of the demands in Gaines’ lawsuit is that the NCAA rescind all of Thomas’ championship finishes.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the NCAA inquiring if and when it plans to make any changes to Thomas’ 2022 championship finishes but has not received a response.
Gaines sent a message to the NCAA about this issue during an interview on “Dont @ Me With Dan Dakich” Wednesday.
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“While the Ivy League, the University of Pennsylvania will have to rescind his records from their account and their record boards, the NCAA, as I understand it, does not have to. So, we will see what the NCAA does,” Gaines said.
Gaines doesn’t expect the NCAA will amend those records willingly.
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“These ‘leaders,’ if you will, have remained spineless and weak-kneed and morally bankrupt and just total cowards over the last three years,” Gaines said.
At an April 18 press conference, while discussing Maine’s defiance on the issue, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt asserted President Donald Trump’s order and Title IX as federal law, noting that violators could be “prosecuted.”
Gaines previously told Fox News Digital she would support prosecution as a response to the issue.
“I would love to see prosecution because I believe what is happening is criminal,” Gaines said. “The way that we have been told that a man’s feelings matter more than our physical safety, than our rights to participate, to call ourselves champions, I believe that is a criminal action. Therefore, I believe it is a criminal offense.
“Someone somewhere has to be made an example of, otherwise you will have the woman-hating Democratic Party continue with full steam ahead. … I believe university officials should be charged.”
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