Natalie Coughlin and Madison Kennedy, right at the U.S. national championship meet in Indianapolis. (Instragram photo by Madison Kennedy)
INDIANAPOLIS, June 29 – Avon’s Madison Kennedy didn’t earn a medal at the U.S. national swimming championships this week but she saw a good friend capture a national championship in the 50 meter freestyle.
Kennedy trained with former Olympian Natalie Coughlin while swimming and competing at the University of California in Berkley. Kennedy swam two years for the Bears, graduating in 2010. Coughlin, who has won 12 Olympic medals, captured the race with a time of 24.97 seconds to clinch a spot in the U.S. team for the upcoming world championships in Barcelona.
Kennedy was seeded fourth in the 50 free with her career-best time of 24.93 seconds but she had a tough day in the preliminary round, finishing ninth, one spot out of the final with her time of 25.47 seconds. She was just 0.02 seconds shy of eighth place and 0.04 seconds away from seventh place.
Kennedy swam her best time of the meet with a 25.32 second race in the 50 meters Saturday night to win the B division race and finish ninth. In the final, that time would have been good enough for eighth place.
Kennedy also swam in the 100 meter freestyle earlier this week. Seeded ninth coming into the meet with a time of 54.25, she had a tough swim in the preliminary round and didn’t qualify for the finals. Kennedy finished 29th with a time of 56.31, struggling on her second 50 meters. She swam the first 50 meters in 26.98 seconds and the second 50 in 29.33 seconds.
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