ATLANTA, May 6 – Avon native Madison Kennedy finished second in the 50-meter freestyle at the Arena Pro Series stop in Atlanta on Saturday night.
It was her second consecutive second place finish in the 50 free in the Arena Pro Series. A month ago, she finished second to Stanford University’s Simone Manuel in Mesa, Arizona.
On Saturday night, Manuel, 20, added a victory in the 50 free with a time of 24.73 seconds with Kennedy second with a time of 25.22 seconds.
Maunel pulled away from the field in the final 25 meters while Kennedy surged at the end to out-touch Olivia Smoliga to take second. Smoliga finished just 0.02 of a second behind Kennedy. Canadian Michelle Toro was fourth in 25.33 seconds.
Kennedy also swam in the 100 meters on Friday night and won the consolation final with a time of 55.15 seconds – her fastest time of the season in the 100 freestyle. She won the race by 0.12 of a second over Kelsi Worrell.
Manuel, who won an Olympic gold medal in the 100 freestyle in last summer’s Rio Olympics, also captured the 100 freestyle here in Atlanta on Friday with a winning time of 53.82 seconds beating Candian swimmer Sandrine Mainville by nearly a second (54.44).
In Mesa, Kennedy also won the B final and took ninth in the 100 freestyle.
The Arena Pro Series concludes on June 1-4 in Santa Clara, California.
The Arena Pro Series is a series of seven meets where swimmers can be challenged by international caliber swimmers. Athletes can earn awards for top three finishes in all individual Olympic events in the series. At each meet, swimmers can earn $1,000 for a first-place finish, $600 for second and $200 for third.
The U.S. trials for the upcoming world championship meet in Hungary (July 23-30) will be the Phillips 66 national championships in Indianapolis on June 27 through July 1.
Kennedy lives in Charlotte, North Carolina where she has been training with SwimMac Carolina’s Team Elite since 2011.
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 30 years.


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