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   The captains of an elite Virginia college swim team say they feel   
   cheated and abandoned at having to accept a transgender competitor   
   who until recently had competed for the men’s team.   
      
   In a case being compared to the Lia Thomas controversy, the swimmer   
   joined the women’s swim team at Roanoke College after sitting out   
   the previous season during her transition, her teammates told the   
   Daily Mail.   
      
   The captains of the sophomore, junior and senior squads — Kate   
   Pearson, 19, Lily Mullens, 20, and Bailey Gallagher, 20 — say it   
   tore the team apart as they felt abandoned by the school and the   
   NCAA.   
      
   Gallagher and Mullens said they both knew the trans swimmer — who   
   was not identified — before her transition.   
   “The swimmer last year informed us of their transition. OK. And all   
   very supportive. We were like, ‘Yes, do what makes you happy,’”   
   Pearson told the Daily Mail.   
      
   “And then later in the summer … we had a Zoom call with our coaches   
   and other members, like our men’s leadership as well. And we were   
   told the swimmer wanted to compete as a woman for the women’s team,”   
   she said.   
      
   Bailey GallagherRoanoke College Swimming   
   “And that was when kind of everything started,” she added of the   
   controversy at the private, liberal arts school in Salem.   
      
   Mullens said “everyone was stepping on eggshells” when their coach   
   told them the trans swimmer would be coming aboard.   
      
   Lily MullensRoanoke College Swimming   
   “Nobody knew what to do. Nobody thought that it would honestly get   
   here. A lot of people, knowing this individual, thought that it   
   wouldn’t get to the point of competition,” she told the outlet.   
      
   The three captains held a meeting with the rest of the swimmers.   
      
   Kate PearsonRoanoke College Swimming   
   “Everyone basically was like, ‘We do not want this to happen,’”   
   Pearson said. “And you could tell people were getting kind of like,   
   amped up about it. And we were all emotional. Just like, ‘No, no,   
   what, what the heck?’”   
      
   The women claim they felt pressured to stand by the transgender   
   swimmer because she felt suicidal by the efforts to oust her. She   
   has since withdrawn from the team.   
      
   “We kept getting put in these situations, and it was so stressful,   
   and every single night we were discussing this through, discussing   
   that,” Pearson said.   
      
   “I was going to bed at 3 a.m. just thinking about it, thinking what   
   could happen, what couldn’t happen, constantly stressed, crying just   
   all the time. Every single day. We just could not get a break from   
   it — and we have studies,” she said.   
      
   As a male, the athlete finished ninth in the 500 freestyle in their   
   conference, Division 3, Old Dominion Athletic Conference, and eighth   
   in the 100 fly, according to the outlet, which noted that Thomas was   
   462nd as a male in her division, Division 1.   
      
   Thomas, who competed on the women’s swim team at the University of   
   Pennsylvania from 2021 to 2022, became the first openly trans   
   athlete to win an NCAA Division I national championship.   
      
   https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/virginia-college-swimmers-   
   fight-to-stop-trans-athlete-joining-women-s-team-after-competing-   
   as-male/ar-AA1hJYIQ   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
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