Madison Kennedy
AVON – A former Avon High athlete was on the verge of earning a trip to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Madison Kennedy, who graduated from Avon High in 2005, was in the finals of the U.S. Olympic swimming trials in Omaha, Nebraska, in the 100 meter freestyle and 50 meter freestyle races.
Kennedy needed a top six finish in the 100 meter freestyle and a top two finish in the 50 freestyle. She finished eighth in the 100 meter freestyle, just 0.39 of a second away out of sixth place. In the 50 free, Kennedy was fifth, only 0.27 of a second behind Kara Lynn Joyce who finished second.
Kennedy, 24, swam three races each in the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. In both events, she swam two of the fastest times in her career.
The 50 freestyle is Kennedy’s strongest event. She had a career-best time of 24.93 seconds in the preliminary round to earn a berth in the semifinals. In that round, she had the second fastest time of her career (24.96 seconds) to earn a berth in the eight-woman final.
In the final, Kennedy was fifth with a time of 25.10 seconds, less than 0.60 of a second behind the winner, Jessica Hardy (24.50). Most of the attention in the race went to 45-year-old Dara Torres, who was trying to earn a spot in her sixth Olympic team. She finished just ahead of Kennedy with a time of 24.82 seconds.
Kennedy came close in the 100 meter freestyle, too. She had a personal-best time of 54.45 seconds in the semifinals, topping the time she achieved two years ago in August 2010. In the final, she had the second fastest time of her career (54.83) but finished eighth.
Kennedy had the fastest 50 meters in the race with a time of 25.86. But she swam a 28.97 in the second half of the race. Hardy won the race with a personal best time of 53.96, only 0.87 of a second faster than Kennedy. Natalie Coughlin earned a spot on her third Olympic team by surging to take sixth place in 54.44, only 0.39 ahead of Kennedy.
The performance at the Olympic trials capped off a whirlwind year for the 6-foot Kennedy. She won a silver medal in the 2011 U.S. national championship meet in the 50 freestyle (25.09) last August. She won a bronze medal in the 50 free at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, last October and was part of the United States’ gold medal 400 freestyle relay team.
She joined SwimMAC Carolina last December to work with David Marsh, a three-time U.S. Olympic coach and seven-time U.S. National team.
“I was lucky enough to spend time with David and a few members of Team Elite at the National Team training camp at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, Colo.,” Kennedy said. “I wasn’t looking to switch teams when I first met David, but his energy and rapt attention to detail caught me completely off guard.”
Looking to get a push, Kennedy joined Marsh’s club and the Olympic-caliber swimmers on Team Elite
“He (Marsh) happily, and without being asked, gave me more technical advice then I had received in months,” Kennedy said. “I find that David’s desire to make every athlete better, to give whatever he can to elevate the sport, transcends boundaries in a way that is lost on other coaches.”
In June, Kennedy was second in the 50 freestyle and sixth in the 100 freestyle at the Santa Clara International Grand Prix, the final tuneup race before the trials. She swam a 25.05 in the 50 free, just getting beat by 16-year-old Australian Yolane Kukla (24.97).
Kennedy graduated from the University of California in Berkley in 2010 where she majored in psychology. She swam two years for the Bears. She spent two years at Rutgers, setting Big East records in the 50 free and 100 freestyle. But when Rutgers eliminated the men’s swimming program, it posed a problem since Kennedy trained primarily with the men’s sprinters. That inspired her transfer to Cal.
Kennedy did compete at the 2008 U.S. Olympic trials and finished ninth in the 50 free and 13th in the 100 freestyle.
At Avon High, Kennedy played soccer in the fall, swam on the boys team in the winter and played lacrosse in the spring. She never competed in the CIAC boys championship meets because it interfered with AAU meets. The CIAC hosts girls swimming in the fall.
Today, Kennedy still holds five individual records at Avon High in the 50 yard freestyle (23.84), 100 yard freestyle (51.82), 200 yard freestyle (1:56.84), 100 yard backstroke (58.45) and 100 yard butterfly (59.57). She is also a member of a record-setting 200 yard medley relay team.
“She is a very dynamic personality in and out of the pool,” said Avon High swim coach Diana Cesaro, who was a volunteer coach with the Falcons when Kennedy swam with the team. “She had fun swimming. She didn’t look down on anybody and has a very engaging personality. She is a fun person, full of energy.”
Cesaro said the entire Avon swim community was thrilled with Kennedy’s performance and so excited to see her competing at the Olympic trials. Kennedy didn’t make the U.S. team at the trials but she had a personal best and her second fastest time ever in the 50 free and 100 free.
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