Logan Kelly didn’t have a typical summer break. Instead of taking it easy or laying around on the couch, he spent much his time getting up at 5 a.m. for five days a week to swim, he had one thing on his mind — getting faster.

Kelly, who will be a sophomore at Austin High School this fall, has certainly gotten faster in the pool and he now has two top-500 swimming times in the nation for his age group. According to USA Swimming, Kelly is ranked 421st with a 100-breaststroke time of 1:08.75 for boys ages 13-14 and he is ranked 466th in the 200-breaststroke with a time of 2:28.

Kelly swims for the Atlantis Swimming Federation under head coach Mark Viniski in the summer and Kelly swam in the Minnesota Class A State Meet for the Packers last winter.

It took a little while for Kelly to get going this summer, but when he did hit his stride, he hit it strong. He took home a championship in the 100-breaststroke at the Minnesota State Long Course Championships and he competed in a total of five summer meets.

“Practices were early. That wasn’t very fun,” Kelly said. “I don’t exactly know where my drive is coming from, but it’s there. I think it’s just that I want to beat people. It’s just getting in front of people.”

Viniski saw a strong drive develop in Kelly this summer at the state meet. Viniski said the next step for Kelly would be to get to a junior national meet and go up against the top swimmers in the nation.

“He’s starting to realize that he could be fast,” Viniski said of Kelly. “He’s not fast yet, but he could be fast. He’s finally realizing that by coming in on the mornings and working out, he’s getting there. I told him in May that I think we can get him in the [Olympic] trials in 2020. I think he’s got the potential to make the cut and go to the trials and swim with the big boys.”

Kelly said the summer adds pressure, because he’s going up against swimmers in his own age bracket. That means these are the swimmers he’ll be going against throughout his high school career.

“I think there’s more competition in the summer, because they’re all my age and I know I’m going to be stuck with them until I’m done doing this,” Kelly said. “In the high school season, I know there’s older swimmers who will graduate before I’m done.”

Kelly will run cross country in the fall and then he’ll come back to swimming in the winter with a  new competitive edge. He’s motivated to push himself in the pool and he’d like to pursue a Section 1A title when the season comes around.

“Going to state [in the high school season] helped me become less nervous for big meets and getting into finals,” Kelly said. “At the high school state meet I was so nervous in the IM that I didn’t do very well.”

BIG MEET SWIMMER

Logan Kelly, who will be a sophomore at Austin High School this fall has had some big success on big stages over the past year.

Kelly competed in the Minnesota Long Course State Championships this summer, taking first in the 100 breaststroke, third in the 200 yard breaststroke and 200 individual medley, fourth in the 50-freestyle, 11th in the 400 IM, ninth in the 100 freestyle and 10th in the 100-butterfly.

Kelly also competed in the Central Zones Championship this summer, where he took first in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard breaststroke, second in the 400-medley relay and 200-freestyle relay, third in the 50-breaststroke, fourth in the 200 IM, ninth in the 50-freestyle and 13th in the 100 butterfly.

This past winter, Kelly took fifth in the 100-yard breaststroke at the Minnesota Class A State Swimming and Diving Meet and eighth in the 100 IM.