Penn swimmer Lia Thomas opened up about her performance in the pool and coming out as transgender less than two weeks before the NCAA Championships.

In a lengthy profile by Sports Illustrated published Thursday, Thomas opened up about the mental anguish she went through before coming out as trans. She told the magazine she started to question her gender identity at the end of her high school run in Texas and recalled feeling “disconnected with my body.” She said she started to research more about what she had been feeling but worried about what others would think.

Thomas told Sports Illustrated she remembered feeling “depressed” about what she was going through during her second year at Penn and it affected her life at school. She said it wasn’t until she started hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in May 2019 that she started to feel more like herself.