University of Pennsylvania swimmer Lia Thomas became the first transgender NCAA champion in Division I history after winning the women’s 500-yard freestyle in Atlanta. Thomas beat Virginia’s Emma Weyant by 1.75 seconds with a time of four minutes and 33.24 seconds on Thursday, falling short of Katie Ledecky’s NCAA record time of 4:24.06. Erica Sullivan, a silver medallist in the 1,500 metre event at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, finished third. “It means the world to be here,” Thomas told ESPN. Last month, USA Swimming unveiled a new policy to allow transgender athletes to swim in elite events b…