Avon’s Kennedy to swim in 50 and 100 free at U.S. Nationals

Avon’s Madison Kennedy

INDIANAPOLIS, June 23 – Avon’s Madison Kennedy will be competing this week at the U.S. Swimming’s 2013 national championship meet in the 50 meter freestyle and 100 meter freestyle in search of medals and a spot on the U.S. team for the upcoming World Championships in Barcelona. 

Kennedy is the ninth seed in the 100 meter freestyle with a time of 54.45 seconds and the fourth seed in the 50 freestyle with a time of 24.93 seconds. 

The 100 freestyle trials will be on Tuesday morning with finals on Tuesday evening, beginning at 6 p.m. The 50 freestyle trials will be Saturday morning with the finals on Saturday night. 

The winner of each event qualifies for the American team for the World Championship meet on July 28 through August 4. A lengthy selection process will determine the other members of the team from the results of the meet in Indianapolis. 

The meet will be covered by Universal Sports Network on Tuesday night with a broadcast from 6-8 p.m. On Saturday, NBC will cover the meet from 1-2:30 p.m. with the NBC Sports Network hosting a show on Saturday from 11 p.m. to midnight. USA Swimming will offer a live webcast of the meet at usaswimming.org/nationals. Trials begin each day at 9 a.m., EDT with the finals at 6 p.m. 

It won’t be easy to make the World Championship team. More than 30 members of the 2012 U.S. Olympic team are scheduled to swim, including eight Americans who won gold medals at the London games. Gold medalist Missy Franklin (Centennial, Colo.) is the top seed in the 100 freestyle. 

Kennedy was second in the 50 freestyle at the U.S. nationals in 2010 and 2011. A year ago, she was fifth in the 50 free at the U.S. Olympic Trials and eighth in the 100 freestyle. 

Her most recent race was at the Arena Grand Prix in Santa Clara earlier this month where she was sixth in the 50 freestyle in 25.78 seconds.

Kennedy graduated from Avon High in 2005 and from the University of California in 2010. She currently lives in Charlotte, N.C., where she is a member of the SwimMac elite swim team.

Previous coverage
Collinsville Press, Sept. 9: Kennedy has her eye on U.S. Olympic team in Rio in 2016

Collinsville Press, May 13: Kennedy has a pair of top five finishes in Grand Prix meet