ATLANTA – It was a record-breaking day for senior
Lia Thomas of the University of Pennsylvania women's swimming and diving team as she became the first Quaker female swimmer to win an NCAA individual title.
Thomas captured gold in the 500 free at the 2022 NCAA Championships thanks to posting a program-record time of 4:33.24 in the A Final this evening. With her finish she also earned first-team All-America honors.
"I didn't have a lot of expectations for this meet," Thomas said in an interview with ESPN on the pool deck following her victory. "It means the world to be here and be with two of my best friends and teammates and be able to compete."
She earned her place in the A Final thanks to touching in at 4:33.82 during the seventh heat of the prelims earlier in the day on Thursday, the top time in the morning session.
Juniors
Catherine Buroker and
Anna Kalandadze also took part in the 500 free for the Red and Blue. Buroker posted a time of 4:46.11 to tie for 45th overall during the prelims, while Kalandadze finished at 4:46.98 in her heat to finish 49th.
Thomas' win marks the 31st time that a Penn student-athlete has won an NCAA individual championship. Thomas is the first women's swimmer to do so and the first Penn student-athlete to do so since Chris Swanson won the 1,650 free at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in 2016.
Thomas' title is the fifth by a female Ivy League swimmer and the first since 2000. However, she is just the second Ivy Leaguer win an NCAA title, joining Olympian Cristina Teuscher of Columbia who won two titles in 1998 (including the 500 freestyle) and two more in 2000.
Thomas returns to the pool on Friday to compete in the 200 freestyle. She enters with the top seed time in the country at 1:41.93. Prelims get started at 10 a.m. followed by the finals at 6 p.m.
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