On Sept. 18, USA Swimming announced the 2017-18 Scholastic All-America selections. Two Madison students, Anna Keating (’20) and Elizabeth Khulkin (’20), both qualified for the 2018 USA Swimming Girls Scholastic All-America.

“Not a ton of kids are able to achieve this so I’m so honored that I did,” Keating said.

In order to qualify, applicants must swim a certain time which was fast enough to fit the requirements of the 2017 Winter Junior Championship. They also had to maintain a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

“Since there is no meet in particular that I had to swim at, I just pulled my best times and put those in,” Keating said.

SAA team members receive three certificates along with a bag tag, while three time achievers will receive a special gift.

“I got a few certificates that came in the mail, and my dad ended up framing them,” Keating said. “They are hanging in my room.”

Keating and Khulkin were two of 564 high school juniors who qualified for the merit. There were a total of 1625 successful applicants, 809 of which were girls.

“I was grateful to be recognized,” Khulkin said.

Both Keating and Khulkin can be found swimming at Machine Aquatics in Vienna every day.

“It’s just my lifestyle,” Keating said. “School, swim, sleep…every day.”