Virginia Tech Female Swimmers Protested Lia Thomas In 2022, ESPN Knew But Did Not Report The Facts: Exclusive

ESPN knew in 2022 that Virginia Tech swimmers were speaking out after losing opportunities to Lia Thomas at the NCAA championships. Yet when the debate over men competing in women’s sports reached its peak, the network looked the other way.

That year, Virginia Tech contacted three people inside ESPN — reporter Heather Dinich, spokesperson Jade Bullock, and executive Faith Celeste McCarthy — about female athletes who were among the first to voice concerns about Thomas. Rather than amplifying those voices, ESPN ignored them, just as men began entering women’s sporting events in a way unprecedented in our culture.

OutKick exclusively obtained internal correspondence from Speech First confirming ESPN had been directly informed of the Virginia Tech swimmers’ objections. 

Which raises the central questions:

• Why did ESPN, after being directly informed by Virginia Tech in 2022 that female swimmers were speaking out about losing opportunities to Lia Thomas, choose not to report on their objections?
• How can ESPN justify ignoring the concerns of women athletes at the height of the debate over men competing in women’s sports, while claiming to be a leader in sports journalism?
• Was ESPN’s decision to bury this story an act of protecting Lia Thomas, at the expense of female athletes whose fairness concerns deserved coverage?

We asked ESPN, Dinich, Bullock and Celeste McCarthy these questions. 

The network and those individuals did not respond at the time of publication.

ATLANTA - Lia Thomas looks on from the podium after finishing fifth in the 200 Yard Freestyle during the 2022 NCAA Division I Women's Swimming & Diving Championship at the McAuley Aquatic Center on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology on March 18, 2022. (Photo by Mike Comer/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

THE BREAKDOWN

March 23, 2022 – Warnings Sent by VT: Virginia Tech administrator Reyna Gilbert-Lowry alerted ESPN staff that two swimmers had spoken out against Lia Thomas, even attaching an article documenting their objections.

Internal ESPN Acknowledgment: ESPN staff, including event moderator and reporter Heather Dinich, acknowledged the warning and discussed how to handle it discreetly during their pre-show planning.

March 29, 2022 – ESPNW Event: Despite being billed as a celebration of female athletes, the Virginia Tech panel ignored the Lia Thomas controversy. ESPN had every chance to elevate the women’s voices but chose silence.

The Emails That Gave ESPN the Heads-Up

Public debate over men competing in women’s sports surged in 2022, after Lia Thomas entered the pool and took opportunities away from female athletes.

On March 23, 2022, Virginia Tech administrator Reyna Gilbert-Lowry, Executive Associate Athletic Director for Inclusive Excellence, emailed ESPN staff ahead of an ESPNW "Campus Conversations" event scheduled for later that month. 

Reaching out to ESPN, Gilbert-Lowry flagged that two of her athletes had spoken out against Thomas and even attached an article documenting swimmer Reka György’s complaints.

Ahead of an ESPN campus event, VT leadership warned panelists to be ready for Lia Thomas questions.

"We recently had two of our women’s swimmers speak out regarding Lia Thomas winning the 500m freestyle at NCAA’s," Gilbert-Lowry wrote. "I’m not sure if this will come up from our student-athletes in attendance … but wanted you and Heather to be aware. Here is a link to an article about their comments …"

The message was relayed to Heather Dinich, the ESPN reporter slated to moderate, Jane Bullock, Associate Director of Strategic Projects and Operations, and Faith Celeste McCarthy, Associate Manager, Business Development and Innovation.

McCarthy responded to the flag from VT: 

"Thank you for flagging. I’ll share with Heather and let you know if she has any questions. Might also make sense to address this during our pre-show dinner by way of your mentioning it to the group. That way all panelists are in the know."

Six days later, on March 29, ESPNW hosted its panel on Virginia Tech’s campus, billed as a celebration of female athletes. 

What could have been a pioneering story amid the Lia Thomas scandal was seemingly buried. The ESPNW event went off without incident, and Virginia Tech issued a glowing press release afterward praising the "enlightening perspectives."

ESPN had advance notice, documentation, and a clear opportunity to give women athletes a voice. Instead, the network prepared to sidestep the issue.

Dinich, Bullock and Celeste McCarthy failed to respond to follow-up inquiries, and when OutKick requested comment  from ESPN, the "worldwide leader" again declined to answer. 

We asked about ESPN's exchange with Virginia Tech in 2022: What action, if any, did ESPN take with that information? Was it reviewed or disregarded?

By ignoring female athletes who objected to a male competitor in a women’s NCAA event, ESPN committed a deliberate editorial omission for which it has never been held accountable.

VT Swimmers Speak Up At Peak of Lia Thomas Controversy

Missing from the VT and ESPN team-up event were the voices of the women directly affected. 

György had been bumped out of the finals by Thomas. Teammate Paige Pouch admitted that competing against someone with male physical advantages felt unwinnable. 

On Aug. 26, speaking exclusively with OutKick, György described how lonely it was to speak up at the time: "It was hard to talk about it back then. Only a very few people stood up on my side, and the hate was more than the support."

She recalled that Virginia Tech leadership only addressed her objections after she lost her spot in the 500 free. "VT leadership spoke with me about voicing my objection, but it was after I got bumped out … they were very supportive after that. If they wouldn’t have supported me back then, I wouldn’t have sent that letter to the NCAA."

ATLANTA - University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas and Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines react after finishing tied for 5th in the 200 Freestyle finals at the NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships on March 18, 2022 at the McAuley Aquatic Center.  (Photo by Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Pouch echoed the sentiment: "It’s heartbreaking to see someone who went through puberty as a male blow away the competition … then you go into it with a mindset that you don’t have a chance."

The NCAA championships also saw Kentucky’s Riley Gaines tie Thomas for fifth in the 200-yard freestyle, only for the trophy to be awarded to Thomas "for photo purposes." Gaines later described that moment as emblematic of the hollow fairness women athletes faced.

For the women in that pool, the race often felt lost before it even began. 

For ESPN, it wasn’t a story worth telling.

Administrators Fell in Line

While athletes risked reputations by objecting, Virginia Tech administrators pursued compliance over courage. 

Instead of challenging the NCAA, Virginia Tech's Gilbert-Lowry circulated "inclusion" guidelines to staff, urging them to focus on education rather than resistance.

That approach persisted years later. 

At the ACC UNITE Designee Conference in 2025, Gilbert-Lowry and her peers discussed "ways the work can continue with the restrictions in place" after federal bans on men in women’s sports.

Breakout sessions on "Gender Equity," "LGBTQ and Allyship," and "Cultural Competency" showed how administrators intended to preserve policies even in defiance of new limits.

Reyna Gilbert-Lowry, Senior Associate AD at Virginia Tech, praises NCAA’s transgender policy changes and pushed athlete "education" to support inclusion. 

By 2025, the debate had jumped from college athletics to the national political arena, with the Trump administration imposing a ban on men in women’s sports. 

Colleges scrambled to adapt, while outlets like ESPN continued to spotlight Thomas as a symbol of progress.

Nicki Neily, Acting Executive Director of Speech First, called this a betrayal of duty in her reaction to the documents from Aug. 18: "These emails highlight the extent to which many administrators have internalized support for gender initiatives, even at the cost of jeopardizing the safety of the very women their positions were created to protect. 

"Significant efforts must be undertaken to identify and remove officials who plan to continue this work surreptitiously."

For György, Pouch, Gaines, and others, this was never about politics — it was about fairness in competition. They risked reputations to speak up. Administrators chose compliance. And ESPN, with every opportunity to elevate their voices, chose silence.

The warnings were in their inbox. The articles were attached. The questions were expected. And when the spotlight came, the network looked the other way. 

If ESPN, Dinich, Bullock or Celeste McCarthy respond, we will update this story.

Send us your thoughts: alejandro.avila@outkick.com / Follow along on X: @alejandroaveela