Kennedi Dobson is excited for her future.
And the Levittown resident has every right to feel that way.
Dobson, entering her senior year at Neshaminy, just competed at the U.S. Olympic Swim Team Trials in Indianapolis, June 15-23, where she was 18th in the 400-meter freestyle (4:11.74), 22nd in the 200 individual medley (2:15.76) and 28th in the 200 freestyle (200.21).
“The trials were just crazy,” she said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous to swim, but also so excited at the same time. The energy from all the fans was incredible. One night there were 22,000 people there for a swim meet and they really bring the energy up.
“It was amazing to see all the really top swimmers like Katie Ledecky and Regan Smith and be in the same pool with them.”
Other recent top tier meets for Dobson include the Speedo Sectionals in Providence, Rhode Island, in March and TYR Pro Swim Series in San Antonio, Texas, in April. This past December, she swam in the Speedo Winter Junior Championship East in Columbus, Ohio.
She has also recently been selected to the USA Junior Pan Pacific team and will compete at the Junior Pan Pacific Championships in Australia Aug. 21-24. She will swim the 200 and 800 freestyles there.
“It’s my first time out of the country so I’m excited for that, and I’m also excited to represent the U.S. and see how I do. I know a lot of the girls on the roster but I’m looking forward to meeting everyone else. I hope to just have fun and swim fast.”
Long term, she would like to make a national or international team or compete at a world championship. She considers her main events to be the 200 and 400 freestyle but has competed in various distances, from the 100 to the mile.
“I do a lot of everything, but I like freestyle because I go fastest in that,” she said.
She swims for Eastern Express, a club team located in Princeton, and made the decision not to swim for her high school team.
“There were conflicting schedules between the high school team and my club team, and I wanted to focus on club,” she said. “I think that really helped me to get to where I am, but I’m a little bit jealous because I did want to do high school and it looks like fun.”
This is the same reason she gave up travel softball.
“I played for about nine years and it was so much fun,” she said. “I just finished last summer and that’s when I made the commitment to just swim the whole year. I’d been swimming for about 13 years and I’d been doing both for a long time, but it got kind of hard at the end, especially with having to make a college commitment.”
She has made a verbal commitment to Georgia, one of the nation’s top programs, where she hopes to major in sports media or advertising.
“I’m really looking to do something in the sports realm,” she said. “As for choosing Georgia, I really loved the campus and the atmosphere. I think it’s the right place for me.”
She also considered UCLA, Texas and Virginia before choosing to become a Bulldog.
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