She's been in pool with Katie Ledecky. Now Neshaminy junior to compete in Olympic Trials

She had to be a prodigy at a young age — a fish as soon as she hit the water. How else would a 17-year-old junior at Neshaminy High School be preparing to compete in next month's U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials?

Guess again.

"I first got in a pool when I was little because my parents wanted me to learn how to swim," Kennedi Dobson said with a laugh. "I was like 5 or 6 and just loved being in the water. It wasn't about how fast I could swim when I was little — it was just about learning how to swim and having fun."

It didn't take long, though, for Dobson, of Levittown, to get the swing of the swim thing.

"I progressed pretty quickly and joined a team," Dobson said. "There wasn't pressure — I just enjoyed it."

Skip ahead to today and it's more than fair to say that her progression hasn't slowed.

In the pool at U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials

Next month, Dobson will be in Indianapolis competing in the U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials in both the 200- and 400-meter freestyle events. The trials run from June 15-23 and the Olympic Games will be in Paris in late July and early August.

"For Kennedi, qualifying for the trials is a fantastic achievement and the experience she is going to gain is absolutely going to help her down the road," said Dobson's coach Mike Randazzo, the director of Eastern Express Swimming, which is based out of the College of New Jersey in Ewing.

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"She's going for the 200 and 400 free, but she can swim every event well."

Dobson's qualifying times for the two events are 2:00.28 in the 200 freestyle and 4:12.92 in the 400 freestyle.

Her qualifying time in the 400 freestyle is more than two-and-half seconds faster than the Olympic trials' standard (4:15.49), an eternity in the pool.

"I probably like the 400 free better than the 200 free," Dobson said. "It's not as get up and go as fast as you can right away."

Dobson knows she has a long way to go in order to get her times down to what we'll see in Paris in July. For example, the winning time in the 400 meters at the last Olympics was 3:56.69 by Australia's Ariarne Titmus.

"Honestly, I want to go and have fun," Dobson said. "It's my first one and seeing everyone that's going to be there like (seven-time Olympic gold medalist) Katie Ledecky is going to be great."

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Swimming along idol Katie Ledecky on national stage

One of her favorite moments in competitive swimming did involve Ledecky, who is considered by most the greatest female swimmer of all time. It happened a few months ago at a meet in Texas when Dobson was just three lanes away from the international standout in a 400-meter race.

"Katie has always been my favorite swimmer to watch and follow," Dobson said. "And to be in the same race was really cool. I wasn't that nervous. It was more like, 'Oh, my God. I'm racing against Katie Ledecky.'"

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As it did with so many things, the pandemic brought about change for Dobson's competitive swimming.

"After the COVID year in 2020, I switched teams and after that I started to get better and my times were improving," Dobson said.

"There were new people around me and I started to grow from there."

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Like many top competitive athletes, Dobson doesn't compete for her high school team.

"I wish I could join the high school team," said Dobson, who also played travel softball for nine years before stopping last summer.

"It seems like they have a lot of fun, but it just doesn't work with the scheduling. After I get home from a school, I have about a half an hour before I have to leave for practice.

"And we practice in Lawrenceville (N.J.) or Princeton (N.J.) at pretty much the same time the school has practice."

Dedication and commitment takes Dobson to next level

When you practice three to four hours a day, seven days a week, while also going to school, you'd better know how to schedule your time, something Dobson has pretty much mastered.

"It can be a little hard sometimes, but I feel like I have a good balance," Dobson said. "What I do is centered around swimming and I don't really have the chance to do much (extracurricular) school stuff besides going to school.

"I sleep as much as I can between school and swimming because my body needs it, but this is what I want to do."

Fortunately, despite her national success, her travel schedule is not overbearing.

"During the winter there are a couple of big meets that we've gone to," Dobson said. "There was one at Ohio State and one not long ago in Texas, but a lot of the meets are closer to home. And, if we don't have a meet on a weekend, we'll just practice.

"My mom and dad try to go to as many of the meets as they can and one of them will go with me if my (younger) brother has something going on. They have been really supportive because the swimming takes up a lot of time."

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What's next for swimmer Kennedi Dobson?

Not surprisingly, all of the big-time college swimming programs have been after Dobson, but she fell in love with the University of Georgia.

"The coaches and the girls on the team are great and I love the Georgia campus," said Dobson, who hopes to major in sports media. "I visited UCLA, Texas and Virginia, but liked Georgia the most."

According to Randazzo, Georgia will be a great fit for Dobson.

"Kennedi would succeed wherever she goes, but she loved it at Georgia and they have a very good program," Randazzo said. "I started coaching her when she was going into eighth grade, and you could see the talent was there. And through hard work, she puts herself where she is today.

"With swimming, you have the preliminary swims in the morning and if you qualify, you come back for the evening session where the lights are the brightest.

"And that's where Kennedi really shines. She's just going to keep getting better and better."

Drew Markol covers local sports for PhillyBurbs.com. Support our journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Kennedi Dobson of Levittown heads to U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials