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Kentucky Swimmer, Riley Gaines, Speaks Out About Transgender Athlete Lia Thomas

Published

3 years ago

on

UK Athletics

Since winning the NCAA championship in the 500-yard freestyle back in March, Lia Thomas, the first openly transgender athlete to win an NCAA Division 1 national championship, has been a nationwide topic of debate.

Last month, during the NCAA Championships, Thomas tied with Kentucky Swimmer, Riley Gaines, for fifth place in the 200-yard freestyle. However, she left with no trophy as the NCAA awarded Thomas the only fifth place trophy for the event.

“It was a bit disheartening, It really was. I left the pool with no trophy. Not a big deal, but it was the goal that I had set all year,” said Gaines.

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Gaines appeared on Tucker Carlson Tonight last Wednesday to discuss her tie with Thomas and the overall topic of transgender athletes.

In the interview, Gaines goes into detail about the NCAA’s response to the tie, “he (NCAA official) kind of blatantly said, ‘We’re just going to give the trophy to Lia. We respect and admire your swim, but Lia needs to hold the trophy.” Telling Gaines that her fifth-place trophy would be “sent in the mail.”

Although she is admittedly upset by the situation and the NCAA, Gaines has made it clear that she is not upset with Thomas personally, telling the Daily Wire, “I am in full support of her and full support of her transition and her swimming career and everything like that because there’s no doubt that she works hard too, but she’s just abiding by the rules that the NCAA put in place, and that’s the issue.”

On the larger topic of transgender athletes as a whole, Gaines suggested that she was speaking on the behalf of a majority of female athletes.

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After talking with fellow swimmers she said that there are athletic directors, coaches, and others that have suggested to the athletes, “don’t say anything, avoid the situation, save face.”

“There is a difference between your sex and your gender identity,” Gaines said. “I think that its just been totally misconstrued and lost… it has finally gotten to the point where it’s being shown and it is completely violating women and women’s rights, especially in sports,” she added.

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Football

Grammy Nominated Music Star Has Credit Card Stolen, Thief Buys 15 Hotdogs at Kentucky Football Game

Published

2 months ago

on

October 28, 2024

By

A Kentucky football fan stole music artist Noah Kahan's wallet at an airport and purchased 15 overpriced hot dogs.
Piet Levy | Imagn

Not a lot of good things came from Kentucky’s 24-10 loss to Auburn on Saturday, but one fan did get FIFTEEN (yes, 1-5) hot dogs courtesy of Grammy-nominated folk-pop artist Noah Kahan.

To clarify it was not a gift, rather the fan stole Kahan’s wallet at Laguardia Airport in New York City. Of all the places for it to venture to, it was Kroger Field.

“The guy who took my wallet went to a Kentucky football game last night,” Kahan shared on social media. “I just know that Mofo bought 15 overpriced hot dogs.”

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Kahan has found comedy in the situation, despite having hundreds of dollars in hot dogs purchased on his dime.

“Come on dawg we gotta be collaborative in our spending!! Check with me first,” Kahan shared.

Kahan headlined Railbird Music Festival in Lexington this past summer. Maybe the next time he is in town, he can get a hot dog of his own.

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Cards Best Cats On National Stage In Volleyball

Published

3 months ago

on

September 19, 2024

By

The Kentucky Wildcats volleyball team lost to the Louisville Cardinals in a top 10 battle.
Megan Simmons | UK Athletics

The fourth-ranked Cardinals traveled to Memorial Coliseum in Lexington on Wednesday night to take on the 11th-ranked Wildcats. 

The stage was set for another memorable Battle of the Bluegrass with both teams having a national ranking. In addition to that, the game was broadcast nationally on ESPN and was in front of a great crowd of 3,838 in Memorial. 

Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough for the Cats to pull through as they lost in four sets, 25-21, 25-18, 20-25, 25-16

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The lady Cats have now fallen to 6-4 on the season, as well as 0-4 against ranked opponents. To make matters worse this is the 4th consecutive loss to Louisville in the annual match-up. However, Kentucky still holds the series 37-29.

After the match, Kentucky head coach Craig Skinner said “Our team did a good job of sustaining their concentration level, but execution suffered at times.” He also gave credit to the Louisville team, complimenting their ability to “play well for a long period of time.” He also credited the 4th ranked team’s ability to “continue to limit options,” and elaborated. “I mean, I think the first several passes, they were doing a good job keeping themselves in the system. And when you’re playing against teams like that, to get blocks when they’re passing the ball within 8 feet of the net, it’s tough. And so it comes down to individual plays, reading the situation of the attacker and making those moves and getting those stuffs. And creating chances by transition opportunities to limit their options that way, too. But yeah, it took a while. And obviously, something we continue to work on.”

Looking to shake off this series the Wildcats will face No.2 Stanford who are 7-1 in Palo Alto, California, on Saturday at 10:30 p.m. Eastern. The game will be broadcast on ESPN2.

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Kentucky Baseball Transfer Class Ranked Ninth in the Country

Published

4 months ago

on

August 16, 2024

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Kentucky Baseball is bringing in the ninth best transfer class in the country.
USA Today/IMAGN

The Kentucky Baseball program is coming off its first-ever trip to the College World Series and they have carried that momentum to the recruiting trail. After losing a large amount of production and experience, Nick Mingione and Co. went and hit the transfer portal hard and are bringing in some talented players.

According to 64Analytics, the Bat Cats are bringing in the 9th-best portal class in the country. The class consists of fifteen players totals, including seven players within the top 250.

92. 1B/DH Cole Hage (Columbia)
114. C Raphael Pelletier (Kansas State)
152. INF Luke Lawrence (Illinois State)
156. OF Shaun Montoya (San Diego State) Transfer Spotlight
168. RHP Nic McCay (South Dakota State)
211. RHP Scott Rouse (Radford)
235. LHP Ethan Walker (Longwood) Transfer Spotlight
272. OF Carson Hansen (Milwaukee) Transfer Spotlight
319. RHP Oliver Boone (California) Transfer Spotlight
398. OF Will Marcy (Memphis)
407. RHP Simon Gregersen (Indiana State)
425. LHP Cole Hentschel (Richmond) Transfer Spotlight
752. 1B Dylan Koontz (Columbia) Transfer Spotlight
2872. RHP Chase Alderman (Eastern Kentucky) Transfer Spotlight
2893. LHP Adam Hachman (Arkansas)

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Mingione is no stranger to the transfer portal as he has effectively used the portal to completely change the outlook of his tenure and the program.

From the brink of being fired in 2021, he has led the Cats to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history. In those appearances, they advanced to the Super Regionals in each and the aforementioned CWS this past season. With this incoming class, Mingione will hope to continue that trajectory and become a consistent tournament team and contender.

That said it will be difficult. While Kentucky has one of the top classes in the portal, it is the 7th best in the SEC, with top 25 programs in Oklahoma and Texas joining the conference as well.

There will likely be some fall exhibitions for the Kentucky Wildcats, but it won’t be until February that we get to see how this collection of talent looks and if they can make another run to Omaha.

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Also published on A Sea of Blue.

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