A letter was addressed to the institution and the Ivy League on Thursday on behalf of 16 members of the University of Pennsylvania swim team, requesting that they not seek legal action to dispute the NCAA’s new transgender athlete participation restrictions.

Nancy Hogshead-Makar, CEO of Champion Women and an Olympic swimmer, wrote the letter on behalf of 16 members of the swim squad.

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The NCAA’s new standards could prevent Lia Thomas from competing in the NCAA championships in March.

Thomas, a transgender woman who swims for the Quakers women’s swim team, won the women’s 100 and 200-yard freestyle events at Harvard last month and has set team records this season. She had previously been a member of Penn’s men’s swim team and had undergone two years of hormone therapy.

The swim team members claim in a letter obtained by CNN that she has a “unfair advantage over the competition.”

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“We fully support Lia Thomas in her decision to affirm her gender identity and to transition from a man to a woman. Lia has every right to live her life authentically,” the letter says. “However, we also recognize that when it comes to sports competition, that the biology of sex is a separate issue from someone’s gender identity. Biologically, Lia holds an unfair advantage over competition in the women’s category, as evidenced by her rankings that have bounced from #462 as a male to #1 as a female.”

The teammates’ identities were kept a secret.

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According to new NCAA rules passed this week by the NCAA Board of Governors, starting with the 2022-23 academic year, transgender athletes will be subjected to mandatory testosterone testing at the outset of their season and again six months later. They will also have to be tested four weeks before championship selections.

Previously, the NCAA required transgender women to undergo testosterone suppression medication for a year before being allowed to compete on a women’s team.

Penn Athletics has stated that it will work with the NCAA to ensure Thomas’ participation in the 2022 NCAA Swimming and Diving Championships, which will be held in March.

“Publicly respond to letters submitted to our office,” the Ivy League said.

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Before this report was published, CNN approached the school for comment but did not receive a response.

The letter comes after several members of the University of Pennsylvania swim and dive team expressed support for Thomas earlier this week.

“We want to express our full support for Lia in her transition,” the athletes said via ESPN. “We value her as a person, teammate, and friend. The sentiments put forward by an anonymous member of our team are not representative of the feelings, values, and opinions of the entire Penn team, composed of 39 women with diverse backgrounds.”

UPenn will compete in the Ivy League Championships at Harvard from February 16-19. Thomas has qualified for the NCAA championships, which will be held in Atlanta from March 16 to 19.