Riley Gaines

Now, I would argue is not a school that historically produces really anything good.

Right.

Leading the nation by body lengths, ranging in events from the 100 freestyle, which is, of course, a sprint, and all the freestyle events in between through the mile, which, if you don't know swimming, right, think about this in terms of your Olympic runners, because that's like saying your best 200-meter runner is your best marathon runner.

You and I both know that that doesn't happen.

They're two totally different systems.

But that's what we were seeing in this person.

So I'm scratching my head.

Right.

I'm talking to my coaches, my teammates.

Who is this person?

We had no idea.

And we continue to stay in the dark until an article came out.

And in this article, very briefly disclosed in a blip of a sentence as if we were really supposed to just read right over it.

It says Leah Thomas is formerly Will Thomas and swam three years on the men's team at University of Pennsylvania before deciding to switch to the women's team.

And so when I read this, of course, I was shocked, naturally.

But really, it was kind of like the sense of relief that I felt.

Because at this point, I went to look up who Will Thomas was.

Because admittedly, I was curious.

You know, was this a lateral movement?

Someone who went from ranking amongst the best of the men to now continuing to rank amongst the best of the women?