The multisport standout put together an ambitious list of objectives to accomplish during the cross country running, diving and soccer seasons as she continued to move toward her potential future in athletics at the college level.
And then it happened.
  
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She was in pain, just lying there.
Kennedy had torn muscles connected to her pelvis. And as she was lying there, Kennedy was left to wonder if her senior year of sports had actually ended just as it began.
But now, after a nearly two-month recovery, Kennedy is back on the diving board. She’s healthy, refreshed and ready to battle for her third straight Region III girls diving title.
And Kennedy is feeling better than ever.
“Right now, I wake up and I don’t even remember having the injury,” said Kennedy, who hits the Soldotna High School pool Friday morning for the semifinal round of the Region III Championships. “I’m feeling really good right now, diving better than I have in my career.”
Kennedy showed no affects of the injury during the preliminary round of the Region III Championships on Thursday, posting a meet-high 165.5 points. That’s pretty good, considering Thursday marked just the third time this season that Kennedy climbed up the ladder to the diving board during an official meet.
Kennedy made her senior season diving debut at the traditionally tough Bartlett/Chugiak Invitational in early October, and won the 1-meter dive at the Valley Invitational earlier this month.
But her return to diving came after weeks worth of rigorous work.
“I had gone through quite a bit of therapy,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy spent nearly three weeks going through physical therapy. She exercised as much as she could, even though she absolutely could not run. Getting on the diving board wasn’t even an option for Kennedy.
The first two weeks after the injury were the worst. Kennedy basically could not walk, she said. The torn muscles had caused her pelvis to shift. As a person born with what seems to be virtually a non-stop motor, and someone who always wants to stay active, staying stationary was a bit rough on Kennedy.
“I had to work on my patience a lot,” Kennedy said. “I was doing all I could to take it easy.”
Kennedy admitted there was a bit of early panic.
“I was freaking out for my future,” Kennedy said. “I’d never had such a significant injury. I’d never been to the point where I couldn’t compete.
“I had a lot of plans, and the first week of the season it all went kaput.”
Kennedy, a three-year member of the Wasilla girls soccer squad, said she did not want to think as far ahead as the potential of her senior season of soccer being lost. That may have been a worry. But she was still determined to make it back on to the cross country trail and diving board before those seasons ended.
And she managed to do both.
Kennedy ran in the junior varsity open race of the Region III Cross Country Running Championships to fulfill that goal. Soon after she was able to begin diving again.
As she spent most of the month of September unable to run or dive, Kennedy found solace in swimming.
Initially, Kennedy used her time in the pool as a form of therapy. But somewhere between the training and return to the diving board, the diver found she also had a knack for swimming.
“I’d never been a competitive swimmer before, but I think swimming helped me a lot,” said Kennedy, who will also swim this weekend in the Region III meet. “And it turns out, I was pretty fast.”
While the swimming helped her regain the physical strength, Kennedy said the support of others helped her mentally keep a positive outlook.
“I had a lot of support, especially from my family and coaches,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy has spent much of her life as an athlete. She’s a former youth gymnastics standout, and has hit the soccer field every spring and summer since she was 4 years old. She’s relatively to new to the sports of cross country running and diving, but she found almost immediate success in both.
Kennedy made the, relatively fluid, transition from the balance beam to the diving board as a sophomore. That season she won the first of her back-to-back region titles.
Last year, she started her cross country running career as a junior, and qualified for the state championship meet in her first season.
Kennedy hopes to continue her life in athletics at the next level.
“I definitely want to be a student-athlete,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy, whose academic aspirations equal her athletic ambition, could potential run, dive or play soccer next year. She plans on studying pre-medicine, and is picking a school first. Once she makes that choice, Kennedy will determine what athletic opportunities are in store for her.
Kennedy, who maintains a perfect 4.0 grade point average, has already been accepted to Carroll College in Montana. Carroll fields girls soccer and cross country running teams.
She’s also applying for admission to the United States Air Force Academy. If she takes that route, she’d continue a Kennedy connection with U.S. military academies. Her older brother, David, is a freshman at Annapolis and a Division I diver on the Navy diving team. But regardless of what path Kennedy takes, the Wasilla senior will go about it the only way she knows how.
Dive right in.
Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.
Comments
4 comment(s)Gayle Ann wrote on Nov 1, 2009 1:45 PM:
You go girl! "
Jen B wrote on Oct 30, 2009 2:37 PM:
Tomahawker wrote on Oct 30, 2009 11:30 AM:
Warrior wrote on Oct 30, 2009 6:44 AM: