Kentucky HS Record Holder Kennedy Lohman Commits to Arizona for 2016

The Arizona Wildcats, who have already put together an incredibly deep and talented incoming class of 2019, have just gotten a big commitment from Lakeside Swim Team and Sacred Heart Academy’s Kennedy Lohman, according to her Twitter page.

https://twitter.com/klo_74/status/614482171319836672

Lohman is going to be a senior next year at Sacred Heart Academy, the school that she represented at this year’s Kentucky High School State Championships when she took the 100 breaststroke title with a time of 1:01.23 by just over four tenths of a second. She also placed 2nd in the 200 IM (2:02.87) to her Sacred Heart teammate Brooke Forde and was a part of state title-winning 200 medley and free relays. Fun fact: not only does she hold the KHSAA record at 1:01.23 (she originally broke the old record of 1:01.65, set by Kaylin Burchell in 2011, as a sophomore in 2014 with a 1:01.29), but she has won the 100 breast state title every year since she was a freshman.  She’s also A finaled in the 200 IM each state meet since freshman year (with this year’s 2nd place finish being her best finish in that event, ever).

Lohman’s name is also in the KHSAA record books for her performance on the 200 medley relay; not only has she been a member of Sacred Heart’s winning relay the last three years, but her 28.09 breaststroke leg helped her team set the state record in finals this year (1:40.74) by over seven tenths. She was also a member of the relay which held the old record, set in 2014.

Lohman is no stranger to the big stage: as a club swimmer for the well-known Lakeside Swim Team, which has produced plenty of other top-notch talent, Lohman won the 100 breaststroke at the 2013 NCSA Junior Nationals as well as taking the 2013 USA Winter Jr National title in the 200 breaststroke.

Here’s a look at her best times:

Her breaststroke times are fantastic, and they’re in bold because she has Summer Nationals cuts in both 100 and 200 distance races across SCY as well as LCM. She’s also a developing IM’er; while her fastest breaststroke times are from 2013 (though she’s been as close to her best in the 100 recently, 1:01.16 from December 2014), she’s dropped right around one second in the 200 IM from 2013 to 2014 to 2015.

Arizona will lose two of their best breaststrokers, Emma Schoettmer and Lauren Stoeckle, to graduation before Lohman gets on campus. In terms of this past season, Lohman’s best breaststroke times, from when she was just a sophomore in high school, would have put her at #3 in both the 100 and 200 distances. Lohman should be able to find a good training partner for breaststroke in 2019er Sam Senczyszyn, who boasts lifetime bests of 1:00.76 and 2:15.07 in SCY breast. Senczyszyn committed to the Wildcats a little less than a year ago. The two have actually met before; Senczyszyn touched out Lohman at the 2013 US Winter Jr Nationals in the 100 breast, 1:00.76 to 1:00.82.

Lohman will likely be an immediate individual scoring threat in the breaststrokes at the conference level. Her best times would’ve placed her 5th in the 100 breast and 7th in the 200 breast at the 2015 Pac-12 Women’s Championships. She also would have made the C final of the 200 IM with her personal best. Lohman is less than a second away in both breaststroke races from the 16th place time in prelims of the 2015 NCAA Champs. In other words, she’s got potential to score at the national level. This is an early get for the Wildcats, as Lohman still has a year left in high school, but it looks to be a good one.