Lia Thomas Qualifies for 500-Yard Freestyle at NCAA Women's Swimming Championships

Lia Thomas will compete in the 500-yard freestyle at the NCAA women's swimming and diving championships. 

Per ESPN's Katie Barnes, the Penn University star qualified for the final by posting a time of 4 minutes, 33.82 seconds during the prelims on Thursday morning. 

Thomas has been at the center of the college swimming world all season as a transgender athlete. 

Barnes noted a "cacophony of (mostly) criticism" around Thomas began in December when she put together a historic performance at the Zippy Invitational, including the fastest times in the nation in the women's 200- and 500-meter events and won the women's 1,650 freestyle by nearly 40 seconds. 

In the wake of her performance, several competitors said they had issues with racing against a transgender swimmer. 

An anonymous female swimmer from Niagara University told Adriana Diaz of the Daily Mail that swimming against Thomas was "intimidating" because "it was hard going into a race knowing there was no way I was going to get first."

Michael Phelps, 13-time Olympic gold medalist, told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in January he felt the debate around Thomas was "very complicated" but also suggested she had an advantage over her competitors:

There have occasionally been protesters at events that Thomas has competed at, including on Thursday. 

According to Barnes, nine people from the Save Women's Sports organization were outside of the McAuley Aquatic Center at Georgia Tech to protest Thomas' participation in the NCAA championships. 

In February, the NCAA announced it would not change its eligibility policies for transgender athletes for the swimming championships. The decision cleared the way for Thomas to compete at the NCAA championships. 

"I just want to show trans kids and younger trans athletes that they’re not alone," Thomas told Sports Illustrated's Robert Sanchez. "They don’t have to choose between who they are and the sport they love."

According to Barnes, Thomas will be the first known transgender person to claim a Division I national title if she wins this week. 

The women's 500-meter freestyle final will be held at 6 p.m. ET on Thursday.