Madison Kennedy
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 21 – Avon swimmer Madison Kennedy had a pair of top 10 finishes at the Arena Grand Prix at Santa Clara this weekend. Kennedy took fourth in her signature event, the 50-meter freestyle, and was seventh in the 100 meter freestyle.
Kennedy, 27, who was seeded eighth in the 50 freestyle, finished fourth with a time of 25.13 behind Stanford’s 18-year-old Simone Manuel, the Netherland’s Femke Heemskerk and U.S. teammate Natalie Coughlin. Kennedy also finished fourth in qualifying with a time of 25.38.
In the 100 freestyle, Kennedy was seeded 28th in the field but finished seventh in qualifying with a time of 55.67 seconds. In the championship final, Kennedy finished with a time of 55.59. Heemskerk pulled away in the second 50 meters to win by nearly a second with a time of 53.64 seconds.
The Arena Pro Swim Series at Santa Clara is the sixth and final stop of the 2014-15 Arena Pro Swim Series, which was formerly known as the Arena Grand Prix Series prior to a January 2015 rebranding announcement. The series provides the nation’s best swimmers the opportunity to face top-flight competition on U.S. soil.
Kennedy, who is battling back from a separated shoulder earlier this year, improved on her performances at the Arena Pro Series meet in Charlotte when she was ninth in the 50 free and 11th in the 100 freestyle.
“But now, I’m completely back to where I was before (getting hurt),” she said before the meet.
In July, she join her U.S. teammates in Toronto in preparations for the 2015 Pan-American Games on July 14-18. It will be her second appearance in the Games and she is scheduled to swim the 50 freestyle and 100 freestyle. She competed in the Pan Am Games in 2011.
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