The Minnesota men will be adding to their middle distance freestyle squad next season, as Iowa state champion Cameron Kelley has signed with the Golden Gophers. Kelley, a swimmer for the Linn-Mar Swim Team, has focused primarily on the 200 and 500 freestyles. He’ll be making the move to Minnesota after graduating from Washington High School at the end of this school year.
At the 2016 Iowa Boys State Championships, Kelley was a 2-time individual state champion. He earned his golds in the 200 free and 500 free, posting new best times of 1:39.50 and 4:29.97 in those events respectively. With his swim in the 500 free, he set a new state championship meet record. He’s also qualified to swim at the 2016 Speedo Winter Junior Nationals.
Kelley’s Top Times:
- 100 free- 47.07
- 200 free- 1:39.50
- 500 free- 4:29.96
- 200 IM- 1:56.10
- 400 IM- 4:04.40
When he arrives at Minnesota, Kelley will join a freestyle training group that includes current sophomore Michael Messner and Nick Plachinski, who were the top swimmers for the Gophers at the 2016 Big Ten Championships. Messner finished 32nd in the 500 free at the conference meet last season, and scored in the mile with his 13th place finish. Plachinski, on the other hand, was 24th in the 500 free and 26th in the 1650 free.
Congratulations Cameron!
Way to go Cam!